Holthausen Clean Technology from Hoogezand in the Netherlands is to build hydrogen-powered trucks for US-based Hyzon Motors. The company is building a new factory for this purpose and will form the European headquarters of Hyzon Motors.
The collaboration is part of a joint venture the two parties recently entered into, Holthausen Clean Technology confirmed to RTV Noord. "We only wanted to publicise it after we were completely up and running," Max Holthausen reveals. "Previously, big things were sometimes shouted and then nothing came of it. That's why we kept it a secret for a while. But now everything, including funding, is in place."
Hydrogen trucks and buses
Hyzon Motors is an American company dedicated to producing hydrogen trucks and buses. The company has developed two trucks: a 30- to 50-tonne specimen available with a 100, 150 or 200kW fuel cell and a 6- to 18-tonne variant with a 40- to 80kW fuel cell. Both units are expected to be available in the US from November.
The company has also been supplying two buses since June: a city bus and a touring bus. The city bus is available in a 12-metre and an 18-metre version. The bus is equipped with a 60 to 100kW fuel cell and can travel up to 400km on a single charge of hydrogen. The touring bus is 12 metres long and equipped with an 80 to 100kW fuel cell. It allows the bus to travel at least 400km on one charge of hydrogen.
Headquarters for European market
Holthausen will form the headquarters for Hyzon Motors for the European market, Scandinavia, Switzerland and the UK. Holthausen will also take on the production of hydrogen-powered trucks for these markets.
Holthausen stresses that in practice not much will change. The company has been converting trucks into hydrogen trucks for some time. These were existing DAFs with diesel engines, which were converted to hydrogen. It will now market hydrogen trucks under its own brand name, reports Max Holthausen.
2,000 hydrogen trucks annually in about four years' time. "That is the goal. We want to get there step by step. Right now we have a capacity of 50 to 100 trucks a year. We want to make at least 300 of those next year, to move towards 2,000," Holthausen tells RTV Noord. This is expected to create around 1,000 jobs.
New company location
The company is currently looking for a new business location. This location should not only house a new office building, but also the factory where the hydrogen trucks will be built. The company reports having already received the investment needed for its plans.
Preferably, Holthausen will remain in Groningen, where it was originally founded. Max Holthausen points to the important role the municipality of Groningen has played in the company's development. "One of our biggest customers, and a party that made it possible for us to start with hydrogen, is the municipality of Groningen. They gave us the opportunity, and we want to give something in return. Now that we can go big with a foreign partner, we would like to keep this in the northern Netherlands, and preferably in Groningen," Holthausen tells RTV Noord.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
