Pure Hydrogen’s fuel cell powered garbage truck is about to hit the road

Pure Hydrogen’s hydrogen fuel cell powered waste removal truck for JJ’s is nearing completion
Truck has passed national standards for road safety and will be one of the first of its kind in Australia
Successful trial could lead JJ’s to acquire more vehicles

Pure Hydrogen’s hydrogen fuel cell powered waste removal truck – one of the first of its kind in Australia – could soon be operating with development and construction work now nearing completion.

The company had reached an agreement with leading domestic waste collection provider JJ’s in March 2022 to supply a hydrogen fuel cell side-lift waste removal truck as well as green hydrogen supply and refuelling services.

A successful deployment is potentially very lucrative for Pure Hydrogen (ASX:PH2) as JJ’s has over 2,000 trucks in its fleet that could be replaced by environmentally-friendly hydrogen trucks that require less maintenance.

Garbage trucks are seen as an excellent application for hydrogen fuel cells as they are more capable of providing the power needed driving around, picking up bins at every household and compacting waste compared to battery power.

Successful adoption of hydrogen fuel cell garbage trucks could also contribute to the development of a hydrogen economy in Australia.

Pure Hydrogen’s fuel cell powered garbage truck. Image: Supplied

Truck operations to start soon

Pure Hydrogen says the vehicle is almost ready for operations following an extensive testing and design phase that was carried out in accordance with Australian Design Rules (ADR) – the national standards for road safety that are administered by the Australian Government under the Road Vehicle Standards Act (2018).

It passed criteria for all relevant safety and design standards such as braking, cornering and acceleration, with final approval from the government expected in the coming weeks.

Component parts for the body of the truck, including the storage compartment and state-of-the-art waste refuse equipment, are currently being installed and fitted by the Australian division of multinational Swiss engineering group Bucher Industries.

Once the truck is completed, Pure Hydrogen and JJ’s will undertake a maiden trial to determine its effectiveness along with a practical framework for refueling.

Should this trial be successful, JJ’s has the option to acquire additional hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to lower the overall carbon footprint of their waste management vehicle fleet.

It will also lead the company to initiate a roadshow to demonstrate its use-case and capacity for investors and industry participants in the waste management and recycling sectors.

Additionally, success could lead to the conversion of its terms sheet with Solo Resource Recovery for the provision of a hydrogen fuel cell waste collection truck into a binding agreement.

“We believe there is a huge market for clean hydrogen fuel cell garbage trucks not only in Australia but throughout the world,” managing director Scott Brown said.

“We are very pleased to build a hydrogen fuel cell refuse collection vehicle for JJ’s Waste & Recycling- one of the first of its kind in Australia.

“The truck has been manufactured in accordance with stringent Australian Design Rules, and has successfully met all of the relevant performance and safety criteria over the course of an extensive testing process.

“The assembling of final components by Bucher Industries demonstrates the capacity of Pure to coordinate multiple manufacturing partners and the design and construction of these state-of-the-art hydrogen vehicles.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Pure Hydrogen, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.