The first of the Waitomo Group sites being upgraded to produce hydrogen for fuel cell electric truck trials is now expected to be up and running around March or April of next year.

The $50 million trial which involves hydrogen producer Hiringa Energy, fuel supplier Waitomo Group and truck leasing giant TR Group as the supplier of Hyzon FCEV trucks, was announced in late-2021. It was initially scheduled to be operational by the end of 2022.

Waitomo’s Te Rapa site in Hamilton will be the first of four North Island service stations that will produce and supply hydrogen for the zero-emission truck trial.

“We’ve recently landed a lot of the gear and we hope to have most of it installed on site before the end of this year,” says Ryan McDonald, Head of New Business at Hiringa Energy.

Key components include the electrolyser to produce hydrogen on-site as well as the compressors and storage tanks. 

McDonald likens the project to a completing jigsaw and says ``now we have most the pieces we can begin putting it all together.

“In the last few months we’ve had gear arriving from Vietnam, Sunderland [UK], the USA and Denmark.”

Once onsite and installed, Hiringa will be moving into the systems integration and utilities connection phase. 

“There’s still a lot of work to do to make sure all of the components talk to each other and that it all plugs into the grid,” he says.

The Waitomo Te Rapa site in Tasman Drive is the first of four locations in phase one of the hydrogen roll-out. The others in Auckland, Tauranga and Palmerston North are also expected to be operational soon after.

“We are looking at March or April for an official launch at the first site,” says Ryan. 

In another aspect of the hydrogen transport programme, TR Group and truck manufacturer Hyzon Motors have announced a revised commercial agreement for supply of Hyzon’s FCEV trucks to be operated in the trial.

The original agreement from January 2021 was for Hyzon to supply 20 FCEVs for the trial. The trucks are based on a DAF CF 6x4 with 600hp which are capable of working at 58 tonnes and offer a 600km range.

Under the terms of a revised agreement Hyzon will now supply two trucks for a commercial trial of up to three months, starting in March 2024.

Following the initial commercial trial, Hyzon says TR Group has the option to purchase the two trial trucks as well as to upfit another 18 trucks with Hyzon’s 200kW fuel cell systems to be assembled at Hyzon’s Melbourne, Australia facility.

TR Group General Manager Brendan King says the first trucks are scheduled to arrive early next year in time for the hydrogen stations coming online.

“The first two trucks will be on a test track near Melbourne by the end of November and we will have them here in the first quarter of next year,” King says.