BREAKING: Development of a fuel-cell ‘Superbus’ is set to start in 2021 after hydrogen mobility and clean energy company Hyzon Motors signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australian industrial technology company Warpforge, the companies have announced.
Warpforge’s first products to market were lightweight light-vehicle trays offering increased payload and greater fuel efficiency, it explains.
Under the collaboration, Hyzon will incorporate its core hydrogen fuel-cell technology with Warpforge’s innovative composite material capabilities to deliver a new integrated bus shell that provides significant weight savings and ensures corresponding fuel savings, they state.
The Superbus aims to realise longer driving ranges, reduced manufacturing costs, improved safety features and emission-free driving, they explain.
Development of the prototype Superbus will take place at Warpforge’s facilities in Perth, Western Australia, and is expected to start in 2021.
Hyzon’s fuel-cell technology enables hydrogen commercial mobility without compromising on performance or cost, it’s claimed.
Combining world-class fuel-cell technology with leading-edge composite technology positions Hyzon and Warpforge to disrupt many heavy mobility applications in the coming years as heavy vehicle and equipment operators seek out the optimum approach to decarbonising these hard-to-abate activities, the companies state.
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Hydrogen is emerging as a crucial component of the future energy landscape, as it offers the only viable green solution for high-utilisation commercial mobility, many industry experts say. The global heavy transport and equipment sector is fast becoming a key target for the implementation of clean energy alternatives, Hyzon adds.
“We are excited to be collaborating with an innovator of Warpforge’s calibre and see this agreement as a first step in a long and fruitful partnership,” said Craig Knight, co-founder and CEO of Hyzon Motors.
“This collaboration with Warpforge will allow Hyzon to take hydrogen mobility to the next level, as we build on our stated strategy of accelerating the energy transition by deploying commercial vehicles with zero emissions with zero compromises.”
SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION
Warpforge executive chairman Brian Maloney said: “We’re pleased to have secured this agreement with this pioneering group in global zero-emission mobility and look forward to developing this partnership as we collaborate on this exciting Superbus vehicle.”
“Warpforge shares Hyzon’s vision for scientific innovation and is excited to develop some of our IP portfolio further to extract value for our stakeholders, creating value for the global mobility market,” he added.
Hyzon Motors earlier this year expanded existing operations by opening its new US headquarters and engineering centre at the former General Motors fuel-cell facility in Honeoye Falls, New York. Hyzon also launched its European manufacturing plant in the Dutch city of Groningen with JV partner Holthausen Clean Technology.
With production facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, Hyzon expects to deliver several thousand fuel-cell trucks and buses over the next three years, it claims. By the end of 2025, Hyzon’s expected turn-key capacity will be more than 40,000 fuel cell vehicles annually, it states.
Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group announced in August, 2020, an agreement to purchase zero-emission buses from Hyzon motors.
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ABOUT HYZON
US-headquartered hydrogen mobility and clean energy company Hyzon is accelerating the energy transition with a focus on, “…decarbonising commercial vehicles,” it says.
It is a global supplier of hydrogen fuel cell-powered commercial vehicles, including heavy duty trucks, buses and coaches. Established as a spin-off from Singapore-headquartered Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, Hyzon commercialises Horizon’s 17 years of fuel-cell technology development for applications in the transportation sector, it explains.
As part of its mission to decarbonise commercial mobility around the world it has established itself in locations, “…where and when the clean energy markets have been growing, including USA, Europe, Asia and Australia.”
Hyzon says it supports the decarbonisation imperative by focusing on renewable hydrogen for its vehicles, thereby achieving end-to-end decarbonisation of mobility.
According to the company, with global operations and reach Hyzon anticipates its novel zero-emission mobility model will expand in global markets over the next few years.
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ABOUT WARPFORGE
Warpforge is an industrial technology company that has developed ground-breaking manufacturing technology and an innovative alternative material to concrete, steel and timber that is stronger, lighter, cheaper and – more importantly – intelligent, it explains.
The company is executing a strategy to build a global network of digitally connected transportation, logistics and infrastructure products that allows for commercialisation of its data technologies to communicate among its future manufactured products (trucks, buses, sea containers, rail carriages) and with existing communications networks, it states.
Photography: courtesy Hyzon + Warpforge