Hyzon Motors eyes NZ market for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

US-based hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicle company Hyzon Motors

is setting up operations to target the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Hyzon Motors was launched in March this year and is as subsidiary of Singapore-based Horizon Fuel Cell Group. Horizon was founded in 2003 and operates five international subsidiaries in the development of hydrogen technology.

It has now established Hyzon Motors Australia to initially set up technical support and project management capabilities serving the markets there and in New Zealand.

In a statement, it says it’s working with strategic partners on the assembly of fuel cell trucks and buses in Australia which are scheduled for 2022 at the latest.

The company has also expressed interest in New Zealand’s geothermal energy resource as a valuable asset to the project.

“We are also considering the options for locating our first fuel cell commercial vehicle integration facility in Australia.

“Green hydrogen investment plans for Australia are a lot more viable supplying into the local heavy vehicle market, as diesel displacement is a much higher value use for hydrogen than bulk export.

“Governments and major corporations need to solidify plans to transition off diesel,” the company says.

Hyzon chief executive Georg Gu says there has been “incredible growth” in Asia for hydrogen development and “now with the experience gained from hundreds of trucks in commercial service, we aim to bring our technology to the roads of the world”.

“Our fuel cell systems have already proven themselves, and we see an opportunity to help the world decarbonise transport much faster than people currently believe is possible,” he says.

Hyzon Motors says it will be one of the first hydrogen fuel cell heavy vehicle companies in series production, with integration work to start in the USA facility from this year.

It will offer trucks from 15 to 40 tonnes in gross vehicle weight, powered by high performance PEM fuel cells.

It also aims to deliver city and coach buses, light trucks, vans plus other forms of hydrogen transport.

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies chief executive Craig Knight says the company is making a lot of progress towards hydrogen commercial transport.

‘We have developed fuel cells which have a significant advantage in whole-of-life cost, and combining this with the imminent availability of very competitive large-scale green (renewable or sustainable) hydrogen in a number of countries, we are rapidly closing in on a total cost of ownership lower than diesel based fleets.

“As an enabler of high performance, zero emission transport, we are empowered to accelerate the transition to hydrogen commercial vehicles, ensuring attractive overall economics are reached in the very near term,” Knight says.

The company says initial interest has been very strong from Oceania, North and South America, Africa, to Europe and Asia, and a number of significant agreements have been signed.

Deployment of over 2000 heavy vehicles are already planned with customers in the first three years.

The company says it aims to equip the USA facility with the ability to deploy thousands of heavy vehicle systems per year, with the potential to increase that in increments of 10,000 units, based on demand.

Hyzon chief commercial officer Brendan Norman says driving down the costs and supporting infrastructure investments for hydrogen are some of the challenges ahead.

“We need to work hard to deliver meaningful quantities of vehicles right now, to facilitate the inevitable cost-down curve for hydrogen as a fuel in commercial vehicles, and to continue improving the economics around the trucks, buses and other high-utilisation vehicles,” Norman says.