Hyzon Motors intends to collaborate with the Saudi industrial giant Modern Group to construct an assembly plant in Saudi Arabia. The factory, which will be located in the city of Neom in the country's northwest, will have an annual capacity of 10,000 FC commercial vehicles.
The Modern Group and the manufacturer of fuel cell commercial vehicles have now signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).According to the agreement, the partners will form a joint venture company called Hyzon Motors Middle East to promote plant development.
The locally assembled fuel cell commercial vehicles will be sold in Middle Eastern domestic markets such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
According to media sources, the Saudi Arabian planned city of Neom is also a potential alternate location for Lucid Motors' Saudi factory. The future city, a 500-billion-dollar mega project, is expected to run entirely on green energy.
Craig Knight, CEO and co-founder of Hyzon Motors, describes the proposed city as one of the most groundbreaking and ambitious decarbonization projects in the world. “We see Neom as one of the world’s most innovative and ambitious global decarbonization developments. Hyzon’s technology is at the forefront of hydrogen-powered vehicles and fuel cell solutions and has been developed over many years. This project is showing the way for resource-rich GCC countries to achieve the energy transition, and Hyzon’s partnership with Modern will help to make this a reality.” he said.
According to Abdulaziz F. Al Hamwah, CEO and co-founder of Modern Industrial Investment Holding Group, localizing zero-emission commercial vehicle manufacturing is just the first step.
Modern Group and Noem, all active in Middle East ventures, are founding members of the coalition, as are Ark Energy, AXA, Bank of America, Hiringa Energy, Raven SR, ReCarbon, and Total. The Zero Carbon Alliance's and Hyzon Motors' central vision is to create a comprehensive hydrogen environment that includes the manufacture and delivery of renewable hydrogen. Along with Australia, where the Alliance is very active, the Middle East is another solar energy superpower, making it suitable for generating green hydrogen to supply countries with little renewable energy capacity, such as those in Europe or parts of Asia.
With this MoU, Hyzon has gone beyond simply docking in the processing of green hydrogen from the Middle East to supply Europe; it will now also manufacture fuel cell heavy-duty commercial vehicles in the same place.
Hyzon Motors recently announced its initial public offering (IPO) in February and confirmed a New Zealand order for a total of 1,500 fuel cell trucks for Hiringa Energy, another founding member of the Hyzon Zero Carbon Alliance. The corporation has two factories in Rochester, New York State, in the United States. The first is a fuel cell research center, while the second is home to the company headquarters, car manufacturing, and powertrain assembly.