H2X Global’s Warrego-branded hydrogen ute comes with $200k price tag
Australia’s first hydrogen-powered ute will be launched on the Gold Coast later this year but it comes with an eye-watering sticker price of $200,000.
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Australia’s first hydrogen ute will be launched on the Gold Coast later this year 40 years after then Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen boasted the state would develop a “water-powered car”.
Sydney-based H2X Global plans to build its Warrego-branded utes, which come with an eye-watering sticker price of $200,000, on the Queensland tourist strip by retrofitting a Ford Ranger with hydrogen fuel cells.
The privately owned company said it had received 200 orders equal to $50m in the first four days of the vehicle being offered for sale.
H2X Global vice-president Tony Blackie said the ute would be unveiled on the Gold Coast in November, with delivery slated for April 2022.
“We have received a lot of interest from tradies as well as from the agricultural and mining sectors,” Mr Blackie said.
The company is partnering with existing engineering firms to handle the retrofitting.
He said the advantage of hydrogen-fuelled cars was they did not require the lengthy recharging of electric vehicles and their only by-product was water.
The dream of hydrogen-powered cars has a long history in Queensland, with former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s idea of a water-fuelled car dismissed as a far-fetched publicity stunt at the time.
The federal government last year flagged hydrogen as a priority low-emission technology under its $18bn Technology Investment Roadmap to lower the country’s carbon footprint. That includes support for hydrogen vehicles under a new $74.5m Future Fuels Fund.
H2X Global chief executive Brendan Norman said pre-orders for the Warrego had exceeded expectations.
“We knew they would be popular but we’ve been blown away by the demand for the Warrego,” said Mr Norman, a former executive at VW and BMW.
“Orders have literally been coming in from around the world. The word has got out that we’re on to something really special.”
The ute has a 500km driving range on a mix of highway and city roads with a refuelling time of three to five minutes.
Most customers will initially need their own refuelling facilities until the vehicles became more prevalent and more refuelling stations are built.
The Warrego is the first in a range of fuel cell electric vehicles that will be released by H2X over the next 24 months.
It joins a growing list of automakers including Toyota and Hyundai launching hydrogen-powered cars.
H2X said it was preparing for a stockmarket listing later this year and was raising capital.
Last month, the Queensland government said it would add five hydrogen-powered Hyundai NEXOs to its fleet of zero-emission vehicles.
Sales of passenger hydrogen fuel vehicles are poised for a rapid pick-up this year. Over 8500 of the vehicles were sold in 2020.
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Originally published as H2X Global’s Warrego-branded hydrogen ute comes with $200k price tag
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