Hyzon Motors , a global supplier of zero-emissions hydrogen and fuel cell powered commercial vehicles, announced that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has certified Hyzon’s Class 8, 7, and 6 Repowers as exempt from emission requirements, enabling the company to sell fuel cell electric trucks in California. Hyzon’s Repower program allows customers to exchange their used diesel trucks for conversion to fuel cell electric using Hyzon’s proprietary fuel cell technology.

With this certification, Hyzon expects it will offer the first commercially available repowered Class 8, Class 7 and Class 6 FCEVs in California. While FCEVs have been granted provisional approvals for trials, and fuel cell electric buses have received CARB certification, no known heavy- or medium-duty FCEVs are currently available, based on the list provided by California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP).

HVIP, an incentive program administered by national clean transportation consortium CALSTART, provides subsidies to reduce the incremental cost of clean commercial vehicles. CARB certification is the primary requirement to secure HVIP eligibility in California. Hyzon expects to qualify for the incentive program later this year.

Repowering vehicles is expected to be a more time- and capital-efficient approach for fleets to decouple from diesel, given 16+ month lead time for new diesel trucks. Repowering an existing vehicle is also expected to reduce customer costs, leading to Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) at or below diesel parity in California, thanks to subsidies. Additionally, the Repower program avoids waste and manufacturing carbon emissions generated by asset renewal.

Hyzon focuses exclusively on the commercial vehicle market, and with a near-term focus on back to base (captive fleet) operations.