Ford Ranger-based H2X Warrego hydrogen ute aimed at mid-2023 sale

The Australian hydrogen fuel cell electric start-up H2X Global says its delayed Ford Ranger-based Warrego ute is now targeting an on-sale date by mid-2023 in Australia and Europe.

The company’s CEO and co-founder Brendan Norman says the funding was in place for a limited production run of about 250 Warregos.

Most of them will be built and sold in Europe, in order to leverage a more widespread hydrogen refuelling infrastructure there than in Australia.

But Norman admitted the H2X’s plan to mass manufacture a series of bespoke FCEV vehicles starting with the Darling commercial vehicle will depend on a successful public float no later than early 2023, most likely on the London stock exchange.

“That’s critical,” he says. “We are working on some different options. That is something we will go ahead with.”

If all goes as planned, Norman says the Darling, which is intended to be built as a van, taxi and people-mover, should be in production and on sale at the end of 2024 or the start of 2025.  

A pick-up truck to replace the Warrego based on the same chassis and powertrain as the Darling is scheduled for 2026.

But an SUV called the Snowy that was the centrepiece of the H2X launch in 2020 has fallen off the product plan.

And rather than be built in Australia as envisaged at the original H2X 2020 launch, Norman now says an Asian country is likely to be its main manufacturing hub.

“It’s going to be difficult to build a full vehicle in Australia because of the costs and we are being offered a lot of support from different governments in the Asia region,” Norman says.

“We just have to take advantage of that, it’s just part of the game.”

However, Norman said H2X would still like to retain some form of Australian manufacturing.

“The key for us is making sure we have the capability to build cars in Australia.”

After a reorganisation in 2021 and missing a series of promised milestones including an April 2022 on sale date in Australia, H2X last week popped back into public view to announce the Warrego was about to start certification in Europe.

That was accompanied by two videos showing a Warrego prototype in action in the Netherlands and on a hoist with its FCEV powertrain on-show.

H2X blamed logistical difficulties for the delays, including a late change of supercapacitor supplier.

Warrego Australian assembly will be completed in Sale in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, while the main European site will be in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Norman says a Warrego prototype was being assembled is Sale to go through Australian homologation.

“We’re two parts away from having a runner,” he says. “Hopefully shipping and all those things work and then we just have to make sure the software is appropriate and it takes a little bit of work to get that done.”

Australian pricing for the Warrego started at an eye-watering $190,000 when it was first announced in 2021.

Norman indicated without being specific that price remained around that mark. But he stressed the new-gen H2X vehicles would be cheaper than the Warrego.

“The cost of the delivery van is completely different, it’s a new vehicle, it’s developed from scratch, it’s got a very low investment presentation on it so we are able to deliver that at a much lower cost,” he says.

KTM Technologies, an affiliate of the eponymous motorcycle and sports car manufacturer, is developing the composite chassis for the Darling.

Norman forecast a Darling prototype could be displayed mid-2023.

H2X has blamed the slow rollout of public hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for parking the SUV.

“At this stage the SUV is not on the timeline and that’s purely on the basis of the rollout of hydrogen,” he says.

“We don’t believe there will be enough stations for people to enjoy that on a private basis.

“Our belief is the commercial guys will have better access to the refuelling stations and that’s critical.”