Aussie Startup H2X Global Are Building Hydrogen Trucks for Europe

Aug 10, 2023

A company in Sweden has ordered a batch of hydrogen fuel cell trucks from Australian hydrogen fuel cell startup H2X Global, to the value of $35 million.

The trucks, which have been designed in Australia and will be built in H2X Global's Sweden facility, have been ordered by Swedish company Renova AB for the city of Gothenburg, as originally reported by The Driven. Renova AB handles waste management for the city, with the order comprised of dumpers, garbage compactors, hook lifts and crane loaders.

H2X Global claims that its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are just as capable as fossil-fuelled equivalents, with the same range and load capacity while delivering zero emissions. It's the second contract that H2X Global has been issued by Renova AB, and is about four times the size of the first contract which was issued in November.

Deployment of these vehicles will take place over the next three years, and it's expected that the introduction of them will increase the demand for hydrogen refuelling stations in the country.

We first reported on H2X Global back in 2020, when the company was just getting started. At the time, it wanted to introduce hydrogen-powered vehicles into the Australian market, but over the past three years, the Australian company has boomed into an international operation, with facilities also located in Malaysia, India, and across Europe, while still remaining based in Sale, Victoria, where its vehicles are designed.

Today, the company offers light vehicles, heavy vehicles, and hydrogen power generators to business customers. Its range includes hydrogen buses, trucks, vans, and the much-reported on H2X Warrego, a hydrogen-powered ute based on the Ford Ranger platform (it looks sick and I’d love to drive one).

Toyota also focuses its hydrogen operations on business customers, although is anticipating a change to this once Australia has established hydrogen refuelling networks.

Hopefully one day soon we’ll see H2X Global's cars and trucks on the road here in Australia. While there has been excitement around hydrogen technology locally, including a NSW government plan to deploy hydrogen buses, we’re yet to see many on the road at all.

Zachariah Kelly is a writer at Gizmodo Australia.