Feature | Hyzon
Provenance for our region and automotive Hyzon is spearheading a foundational and fundamental change for Australia with a new manufacturing facility for automotive underway in Victoria ‘It’s not a folly, it’s not a shot in the dark, it’s a fundamental change that’s really viable,’ John Edgley, managing director for Hyzon Motors Australia and New Zealand told VTE Magazine during an interview. Exciting news for the local economy and for manufacturing jobs for the future as well as engineering, which is close to Nr Edgley’s heart as a mechanical engineering graduate of Melbourne University in the early 1990s.
“The other part is that there are a number of formats that we are importing from overseas. So, there’s a prime mover – a cab over prime mover – being imported from Europe. We’re using local suppliers and purchasing nearly all the key components of that, but the master assembly is happening in a European facility. And we’ve got a very strong sourcing relationship through our division in China for some of the bus and coach market.”
Mid last year Mr Edgley joined Hyzon in the same month as the company listed on the NASDAQ, during COVID and at a time when one of the founders of parent company Horizon Fuel Cells, Craig Knight, was holed up in Sydney and unable to leave the country due to the pandemic. Perhaps a fortunate thing as he was able to do a lot of early business development work in the region. Mr Knight, an Australian, is usually located in New York and it has been said that his roots may have led to Hyzon engaging with the Australian market.
For Australia the strategy focus is leading the development of the Hyzon heavy rigid truck platform. Global engineering for that is in Australia, with master assembly also here though the chassis is imported, the cab and fuel cells also imported but the assembly will be at Noble Park. The development of the structure, the ancillary bill of materials – the majority of that is to be sourced locally alongside the workforce.
Horizon Fuel Cells was founded about 18 years ago as a Singaporean company making fuel cells, Hyzon Motors is a natural spin off with the evolution of the fuel alternative and now the company is setting up in Noble Park, Melbourne on the same site as the RACV headquarters. “Yes, 2000 square metres is the site that we’re on today. And the extension, which was part of our announcement with RACV is what we’re developing. We’re building a 10,000 square metre facility on the same site,” Mr Edgley said. Along with the manufacturing facilities there will be a showroom, corporate offices and warehousing in a facility estimated to cost more than $50 million. “It happens to be part of an existing facility that was developed by the RACV in the seventies. It’s got great provenance for the region and for automotive. It’s suitable and we’ll be able to produce somewhere around a hundred vehicles a year. 18 | March 2022
John Edgley, Managing Director for Hyzon Motors Australia and New Zealand
