All-Aussie motorhome on the cards
Proposed NSW-built van could form basis of clean, green motorhomeMost motorhomes and campervans sold here are converted and fitted out in Australia from vans or trucks built overseas, but that could be all about to change with a radical proposal to build a number of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in NSW that could form the basis for commercial, taxi, passenger as well as RV transport.
A new Australian-backed vehicle manufacturing company based in the NSW city of Port Kembla called H2X is being set up to build hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles by July 2021.
HDX plans to roll out a range of commercial vehicles, including a hydrogen-fuelled electric prime mover, bus, taxi, passenger van and tractor before it gets into private passenger sales including a H2X Snowy SUV.
Revealed publicly last week, H2X plans to reboot Aussie vehicle manufacturing by exploiting massive local hydrogen resources.
Its initial focus is on commercial vehicles because an Australian public hydrogen refuelling infrastructure simply doesn’t exist as yet.
The electric vehicles it sells initially, using a hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain, will need to appeal to commercial fleet operators – such as transport, taxi and bus companies – that have access to hydrogen refuelling facilities.
“The commercial vehicle market doesn’t have the same glamour as the passenger car market, but for us to establish ourselves and really get an opportunity for hydrogen to work it has to be the focus,” H2X CEO Brendan Norman said.
“The vehicles we are starting with are either a little more on the industrial side or they are really back-to-base type vehicles that will start in one location where the hydrogen is and they will go out and come back in the same day and be refuelled without us worrying about the infrastructure.”
Norman said the Snowy SUV, which is based on the same chassis as the taxi, could be brought to market within 24 months, but that could mean it arrives ahead of a public hydrogen refuelling network.
The Snowy SUV could feature a 60kW fuel-cell and have an overall power output of 190kW.
“The challenge we have with that vehicle is it is associated with families and so on. So what’s the right time to introduce that vehicle based on infrastructure development for hydrogen?
“That’s going to drive a lot of when we choose to release that vehicle, because we want to release it to market and enjoy it properly. That means not having the anxiety of wondering where the hydrogen is going to come from.”
A start of production for the Snowy has been mooted for mid-2023 to 2024.
Norman, an Australian who has worked for Volkswagen and BMW here and internationally and most recently spent time with the Chinese start-up Grove Hydrogen Automotive, says H2X aims to be producing 20,000 vehicles per annum in Australia by 2024, with two-thirds headed for export.
“That is an ambition plan not a business plan,” Norman said. “If we achieve that it will give us the biggest production in the world – by our calculations – of any fuel-cell vehicle.”
The company plans to export to Asia, Europe and the Americas. Norman was particularly enthusiastic about the opportunities for H2X in Europe.
“There will be a strong potential for light vehicles, especially where they have these cities where the petrol and diesel vehicles are not being allowed into the city centre.
“Smaller vehicles like the van and taxi will have greater applications in Europe where they will need smaller vehicles very, very quickly.
“Working owners will appreciate the ability to keep the vehicle on the road longer than a battery vehicle can at the moment, because these things can be refuelled in five or six minutes like petrol vehicles can.”
Aside from the Nikola Badger pick-up, a number of major car-makers have FCEVs in the pipeline, including Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Hyundai, which is yet to sell its NEXO FCEV SUV to the public.
So far only one public hydrogen filling station exists in Australia – in Fyshwick, to support the ACT government’s fleet of NEXOs – but the National Hydrogen Strategy aims to accelerate the establishment of H2 refuelling infrastructure.
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