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photo: Mallika Habbazi
A project to build hydrogen-powered trucks in partnership with an American company facing fraud charges in the United States has gone off track, and officials have begun efforts to salvage it.
Hyzon Exit Australiaa deal to convert 20 trucks for Auckland-based TR Group is still pending.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), which is financing the deal and has so far committed $2 million of the $8 million in public money, is meeting to discuss other options, said Richard Briggs, its partnership manager.
“Of course, things have gone off the rails because Hyzon closed its doors,” Briggs said.
“So we’re working with TR right now to get everything back to normal and make sure these trucks are back on the road as quickly as possible.”
Hyzon, which was accused in the United States of misleading investors about its business relationships and car sales, settled last year without admitting or denying the charges and agreed to pay $40 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
EECA said it partnered with Hyzon in 2021 and hired lawyers Chapman Tripp and KPMG to conduct due diligence on the project.
TR Group told RNZ it had three other options for converting trucks.
The company’s first two trucks were due to be delivered to New Zealand in mid-August, four of which have been modified but are still being tested. TR Group has another 16 unmodified diesel trucks.
EECA said it might be 2025 before the improved vehicles are put into service here.
Briggs will meet with Canterbury clean-vehicle manufacturer Global Bus Ventures later on Friday to discuss converting the vehicles’ capabilities.
TR Group said Global is a real option.
RNZ has contacted the company for comment.
Hyzon said a few days ago that it would exit the Australian and Dutch markets due to challenging market conditions.
Briggs said this was “not a blow” to the viability of hydrogen-powered trucks and the refueling network being built.
A further $16 million in public funding (also overseen by the EECA) is being used to build the first hydrogen refuelling network, part of which is a loan convertible into a grant; three of the four stations so far have been built by Taranaki company Hiringa.
Briggs said such technology demonstration projects are designed to give industry an idea of what is possible and are inherently “high risk”.
“This is not unusual for us.
“It’s really important that this project is successful.”
Once Hiringa builds all four stations, $6 million of the loan will revert to a grant, while the remaining $10 million will remain a loan. EECA has paid $14.5 million to the company so far.
Hiringa said in 2021 that it had reached a supply agreement with Hyzon to put up to 1,500 hydrogen-powered trucks on the road by 2026.
Shillinga has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Briggs said it’s a chicken-and-egg problem, which came first, the hydrogen trucks or the hydrogen refueling network; even the price per kilogram of hydrogen is still up in the air.
The British government this year cancelled a $100 million fund set up by the Labour Party to finance a decade of green hydrogen consumer rebates to reduce the cost of running hydrogen-fueled trucks.
Budget 2024 establishes the Clean Heavy Vehicle Grant Program, which provides $30 million over three years and $60 million over four years for electric buses.
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