Vehicle manufacturers Hyzon Motors and Modern Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a factory to make hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles in Neom, Saudi Arabia.

Neom is a planned city in northwest Saudi that the government wants to be a hub for low carbon industry and green hydrogen production.

“Hydrogen is key to power heavy duty commercial transport” Knight, Hyzon Motors

Hyzon, Modern Group and Neom company will finalise plans over the next 18 months for the facility, which they hope will produce 10,000 vehicles a year.

“Hydrogen is a key fuel to power global heavy duty commercial transport, liberating it from dependence on fossil fuels,” says Craig Knight, CEO of Hyzon Motors. “This project is showing the way for resource-rich Gulf Cooperation Council countries to achieve the energy transition, and Hyzon's partnership with Modern will help to make this a reality.”

The goal is to sell hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles across the region.

In July, Neom agreed a deal with US company Air Products and the Saudi power and desalination utility Acwa Power to create a $5bn hydrogen project.

Saudi Arabia is home to the 300MW Sakaka solar project, which produces some of the cheapest electricity in the world, making it an ideal location for green hydrogen production.

Hyzon is a commercial vehicle startup with investment from oil firm Total. It is planning to seek a public listing list later this year via a merger with acquisition company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation.

“The hydrogen future across a wide variety of transportation use cases – including heavy duty truck transportation, coaches and buses – is unfolding as we had anticipated it would,” says Erik Anderson CEO of Decarbonisation Plus Acquisition Corporation.

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Author: Tom Young