Aussie hydrogen refuelling plan launched

Investors in the Australian fuel cell electric vehicle company H2X have revealed plans to develop the hydrogen refuellers to service it.

Elvin Group Renewables has been confirmed as H2X’s partner to manufacture locally green hydrogen electrolysers for the Australian market.

Elvin Group is already an investor in H2X and its managing director Samuel Blackadder is chairman of the start-up’s board.

The electrolysers will be scalable from small household units to ones suitable for service stations where they could be used to refuel hydrogen vehicles including those H2X proposes to manufacture at a plant in Port Kembla NSW.

As previously reported by EV Central, H2X plans to start with heavy vehicles in 2021 and then move to lighter commercial vehicles such as taxis and vans. It will target fleets with a central hydrogen refuelling sources.

Only later, when a network of publicly available hydrogen refuellers is available will H2X start offering vehicles such as the Snowy SUV to the public.

This deal with Elvin could speed that process up.

That will be welcome news to other hydrogen advocates such as Hyundai and Toyota, which have their respective Nexo and Mirai FCEVs trialling in Australia now.

“We believe the time is right for Australia to take hold and drive the hydrogen economy which also means taking control of manufacturing opportunities,” Blackadder said in a press release.

“Instead of importing a hydrogen electrolyser from overseas markets we should be utilising our talented and experienced work force by providing upskilling into a new industry.”

Elvin has linked up with the US electrolyser manufacturer GinerELX to supply three larger units up to 40mW and Australian company Hydrostar for smaller units between 500kW and 1mW that would form much of the network.

 Another founder investor in H2X, Denzo, is also a potential partner in the project and could supply an initial 40mW electrolyser location.