MELBOURNE will be home to Hyzon Motors Australia’s headquarters under a new partnership agreement between the RACV and Hyzon, a manufacturer of zero-emissions hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles.

Under the agreement, Hyzon Motors in conjunction with the RACV at its Noble Park location will develop a purpose-built facility including corporate offices, showroom, assembly warehousing and workshop.

It is expected to employ more than 100 people in engineering and manufacturing jobs by 2025.

The partnership also includes an order for hydrogen-powered vehicles for the RACV-owned subsidiary Nationwide Group, a first for a towing company in Australia.

These vehicles, three locally manufactured Hyzon HyMax TT7 tilt-tray trucks and one of Hyzon’s fully imported HyMax prime movers, will be trialled by Nationwide Group, with arrival scheduled for the end of this year.

“With governments across Australia and New Zealand shifting their focus towards hydrogen as a cost-
competitive and zero-emission fuel source, Hyzon stands ready to support and partner on key projects and initiatives,” Hyzon Motors in Australia and New Zealand managing director John Edgley said.

Hyzon deliveries already scheduled for this year include coaches to Fortescue Metals in Western Australia, prime movers to Coregas in New South Wales and TR Group in New Zealand, road train prime movers to Ark Energy in Queensland, and HyMax GSL garbage trucks across the region.

RACV chief executive officer Neil Taylor said the partnership with Hyzon Motors aligned with the company’s objective to support a cleaner energy future.

“RACV is a strong supporter of the transition to a cleaner energy future,” Mr Taylor said.

RACV is already has a purchase power agreement with Snowy Hydro which covers all RACV-owned sites in Victoria, and is a major player in accelerating the Energy Transition the Solar Installation Market via RACV Solar.

Other energy-related RACV investments include Chargefox and Restart EV, and RACV has installed solar power at all its Victorian resorts.

“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.”

Nationwide Group chief executive officer Michael Stephenson said the business was keen to assess the performance of hydrogen vehicles in a real-world test for towing and transport.

Hyzon describes itself as a global leader in fuel cell electric mobility, and has US operations in the Rochester, Chicago and Detroit areas, and international operations in the Netherlands, China, Singapore, Australia, and Germany.

Using its proprietary hydrogen fuel-cell technology, Hyzon aims to supply zero-emission heavy duty trucks and buses to customers in North America, Europe and around the world to mitigate emissions from diesel transportation.

Source: Hyzon ANZ