Hydrogen truck to be showcased at Brisbane convention before Pepsi trials

Pure Hydrogen, a company positioning itself as a supplier of both hydrogen-powered vehicles and hydrogen itself, will soon demonstrate the 220 kW ‘Taurus’ fuel cell truck in Brisbane. The 6 x 4 truck will “in future” be able to handle loads of up to 70 tonnes – but its current haulage capacity isn’t stated.

The company is claiming the truck as an Australia-first, but the announcement is somewhat enigmatic. “Pure Hydrogen has exclusive rights to the truck design in Australia,” it reads – which would suggest the design – and presumably the truck’s technology – is owned elsewhere. It is not clear where the truck was manufactured, but included in the press images are representatives from HDrive – the exclusive Australian distributor for the Wisdom Fujian Motor Co range of hydrogen vehicles.

Following its showcase at the  Brisbane Truck Show on May 18, the ‘Taurus’ will be sent to PepsiCo, which is set to trial it at a Brisbane manufacturing site. The truck will be leased to Pepsi as part of a six-month trial, under the terms of which Pure Hydrogen will be paid just shy of $100,000 (USD 67,000). If successful, PepsiCo will have the option to lease the truck from Pure Hydrogen at monthly fee of $10,554 (excluding GST) over a potential seven-year term.

In this latest announcement, Pure Hydrogen also noted it has “the potential for multi-vehicle orders following the completion of the trial period.”

Pure Hydrogen is also pursuing an agreement with Australia’s largest privately-owned waste management company, JJ Waste & Recycling. In March 2022, it announced it would work with the company to put hydrogen-powered garbage trucks on the streets of south east of Queensland before 2022 is out. While that date passed, the agreement remains in place with Pure Hydrogen saying the garbage trucks are now slated for operations this year, 2023.

At the time of that announcement, Pure Hydrogen said it intended to use H2X Global, in which it holds a 24% stake, to “assist in the assembly of the [garbage] truck.” Again, this seems to confirm Pure Hydrogen’s role as a supplier of externally-manufactured hydrogen technologies.

(It is also worth noting the same investment firm, Liberty Energy Capital, is behind both H2X and Pure Hydrogen. Liberty is H2X’s primary shareholder and owns at 30% stake in Pure Hydrogen.)

Hydrogen trucks in Australia

Hyzon, a US-based startup cofounded by an Australian, in March showcased a range of hydrogen trucks out of its Noble Park headquarters in Melbourne’s south-east. Its 27-tonne hydrogen trucks are hitting Australian roads in a series of commercial trials this year, including as part of a longterm partnership with RACV, which has ordered three tow trucks.

The use of hydrogen in vehicles has been a hotly debated in Australia, but found a foothold in the heavy vehicle and trucking sector. This is because unlike electric vehicles, which well and truly hold marketshare when it comes to passenger cars, the batteries needed for big trucks are extremely heavy and require downtime to charge.