RACV to trial hydrogen-powered tow trucks as Hyzon sets up shop in Victoria

Horizon Fuel Cell began business in 2003 and has been developing and deploying hydrogen fuel cell technology in areas such as standing storage, trains and, more recently, in fuel cell electric heavy vehicles (FCEVs).

As part of that expansion into heavy vehicles, the hydrogen fuel cell company recently split out its Heavy Vehicle Business Unit to form Hyzon. Based in the US, Hyzon has operations in the Netherlands, China, Singapore, Germany and now Australia.

As a new entrant into the EV trucking field, Hyzon is marketing itself on the use of hydrogen fuel cells as the major electricity source rather than large battery packs alone – as used in full battery-electric (BEV) trucks like the 44-tonne eCascadia truck (by Daimler), the Volvo VNR and the Tesla semi. (The release of the latter is now being delayed until 2023).

Hyzon has now announced it will set up an Australian head office and manufacturing facility at the old Royal Automobile Club of Victorian (RACV) site in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong where it will build a 10,000 m² office, warehouse and manufacturing facility.

This facility is expected by 2025 to employ over 100 engineering, office and manufacturing staff with hundreds more indirect jobs expected through the supply chain. Initially capable of building 100 or so trucks, they hope to expand this facility to produce 1,000 or more trucks per year by later this decade.

As part of its partnership with the RACV, hydrogen-powered tow trucks will be trialled with RACV-owned subsidiary Nationwide Group, with the first order of such vehicles for a towing company in Australia.

The trial by Nationwide Group is scheduled to begin towards the end of this year and will involve four trucks initially: three locally manufactured Hyzon HyMax TT7 tilt-tray trucks and one of Hyzon’s fully imported HyMax prime movers.

Managing Director for Hyzon Motors in Australia and New Zealand, John Edgley, said the announcement was exciting news not just for the local economy, but for Australia’s energy transition aspirations and the manufacturing jobs of the future.

“Hyzon has already hit the ground running in the region, with scheduled 2022 deliveries including coaches to Fortescue Metals in Western Australia, Prime movers to Coregas in NSW and TR Group in New Zealand, Road train prime movers to Ark Energy in Queensland and the HyMax GSL garbage trucks with Superior Pak across the region,” he said in a statement.

RACV CEO Neil Taylor said the partnership with Hyzon Motors aligned with the company’s objective to support a cleaner energy future: “We see building a bigger portfolio of Cleaner Energy assets and businesses as a strong part of RACV’s future, both within Victoria and across Australia.”

So it seems that whilst the battle between BEV and FCEV for the passenger cars and light trucks is effectively over (with BEV taking the entirety of those markets) – the race is on to see if there becomes a dominant player in the heavy truck arena (FCEV or BEV), or perhaps whether the market becomes shared between the two EV forms.

However, the availability of fuel and the green credentials of its fuel stock and production are major issues the FCEV (even in heavy truck form) must overcome before it can be considered a truly viable alternative.