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H2X Warrego ute will still be built in Australia, but FCEV start-up to switch assembly focus to AsiaAsia rather than Australia is now the manufacturing focus for the hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) start-up H2X Global, despite its first model, the Ford Ranger-based 2023 H2X Warrego, being built in Victoria from next year.
Launched in 2020 with the stated aim of reinvigorating Australian car manufacturing via a line-up of FCEV commercial vehicles and an SUV, H2X has since gone through a restructure and development delays.
The H2X Warrego ute will be built in very limited numbers in Australia and Europe, with sales now planned from mid-2023.
But for financial reasons the primary manufacturing home of the company’s first bespoke model, the H2X Darling van, is likely to be in Asia.
Australia and Europe could provide smaller manufacturing capability.
“It’s going to be difficult to build a full vehicle in Australia because of the costs and we are being offered a lot of support from different governments in the Asia region,” said H2X co-founder and CEO Brendan Norman.
“We just have to take advantage of that, it’s just part of the game.”
A candidate for an assembly site could be the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with which H2X has already announced other business deals.
However, Norman said the company would still like to retain some form of Australian manufacturing.
“The key for us is making sure we have the capability to build cars in Australia,” he said.
After missing a series of promised milestones including an April 2022 on-sale date in Australia, H2X last week announced the Warrego FCEV ute was about to start certification in Europe.
That was accompanied by two videos showing a Warrego prototype in action in the Netherlands and on a hoist with its FCEV powertrain on show.
It blamed logistical difficulties for the delayed reveal, including a late change of supercapacitor supplier.
H2X forecasts it will assemble just 250 Warrego utes, with the majority destined for fleet customers in Europe, reflecting a more widespread hydrogen refuelling infrastructure there.
Warrego assembly for Australia will be completed in Sale in Victoria’s East Gippsland region, while the primary European site will be in Gothenburg, Sweden.
While Norman says Warrego production is financially assured, he confirmed a public float will be critical if it is to generate the funds to progress to mass manufacturing of the H2X Darling van that will also be sold as a taxi and MPV by late 2024 or early 2025.
“That’s critical,” he said. “We are working on some different options. That is something we will go ahead with.”
KTM Technologies, an affiliate of the motorcycle and sportscar manufacturer KTM, is developing the composite chassis for the Darling. Norman said a prototype could be displayed mid-2023. The FCEV powertrain being developed with Warrego will be used by the Darling.
A pick-up based on the new chassis is planned for 2026 and will effectively replace the Warrego in the line-up.
Australian pricing for the Warrego started at $190,000 when it was first announced in 2021. Norman said the new-gen H2X vehicles would be cheaper than the Warrego.
“The cost of the delivery van is completely different, it’s a new vehicle, it’s developed from scratch, it’s got a very low investment presentation on it so we are able to deliver that at a much lower cost,” Norman said.
H2X has also put plans for an FCEV SUV – dubbed Snowy when the company first appeared in 2020 – on hold, saying the lack of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure cruelled the potential of a vehicle that would generate its sales from private buyers.
“At this stage the SUV is not on the timeline and that’s purely on the basis of the rollout of hydrogen,” he said.
“We don’t believe there will be enough stations for people to enjoy that on a private basis.
“Our belief is the commercial guys will have better access to the refuelling stations and that’s critical.”
Norman told carsales a Warrego prototype was being assembled at H2X’s site in Sale to go through Australian homologation.
“We’re two parts away from having a runner,” he said. “Hopefully shipping and all those things work and then we just have to make sure the software is appropriate and it takes a little bit of work to get that done.”
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