First Look: Under the hood of Hyundai’s hydrogen truck push

Hyundai Motor Company has partnered with Australian-owned Advanced Manufacturing Queensland (AMQ), a division of the BOSSCAP Group, to get its hydrogen fuel cell XCIENT truck on Australian roads by the end of the year.

BOSSCAP Group has over a decade of experience performing right-hand drive conversions, starting with American pick-ups in 2012, before shifting its focus to zero-emission vehicles under the AUSEV sub-brand in 2021. This included a large-scale remanufacturing and homologation program for the Ford F-150 Lightning.

More than 300 Lightning models have since rolled off AUSEV’s production line, with most sold to fleet operators seeking full-size electric commercial utes.

Now, Hyundai’s partnership with AMQ aims to combine global innovation with proven local expertise, as the two work together to re-engineer the XCIENT for Australian conditions.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia CEO, Don Romano, says the partnership underscores the company’s commitment to local innovation as it prepares to launch its hydrogen truck locally.

“Australia is an important market for Hyundai, especially in the advancement of hydrogen mobility,” Romano said.

“We are proud to work with Advanced Manufacturing Queensland on this historic milestone. Their expertise, innovation and local footprint made them the ideal partner to bring this hydrogen truck to Australian roads for the first time.”

BOSSCAP Group founder and CEO, Edward Kocwa, says the partnership is a natural progression for AMQ, highlighting Queensland’s growing advanced manufacturing industry.

“It’s exciting that in the automotive world, obviously there’s truck manufacturing over at Wacol but aside from that there isn’t too much up here, so it really puts Queensland on the map,” he said.

“We’ve been working towards this – we’ve got defence clearance, ISO certifications, and have been building up to it.”

Kocwa says the deal not only reinforces AMQ’s place as a local innovator, but also drives the company’s broader mission of helping Australian fleets decarbonise.

“Hyundai is the world’s third-largest automaker, so the fact they’re partnering with us showcases what we’re capable of and is a testament to what’s possible when global innovation meets local ingenuity” he said.

“We’re proud that Advanced Manufacturing Queensland, a 100 per cent Australian-owned business, is not only leading this transformative project but also supporting close to 100 skilled local jobs right here in Brisbane.

“At the core of it all, we want Hyundai to succeed. We want to lead the clean energy fleet transition in Australia and hydrogen will be a part of that.”

Hyundai Motor Company Australia’s Senior Manager of Future Mobility, Scott Nargar, says the company selected AMQ based on its proven production capability, citing the Lightning program as evidence of the company’s OEM-quality outcomes.

“They were best suited for us based on the production capability and the scalability too,” Nargar said.

“We’d obviously looked at other people, but we saw the Lightning last year and they’d done a really neat job.

“We’re also lucky in that 90 to 95 per cent of the parts come in a box, because we do the same truck in right-hand drive internal combustion form, so there aren’t too many bespoke parts needed.”

While remanufacturing programs can take years to produce a road-ready truck, Hyundai and AMQ hope to have a working model on Australian roads before the year is out, thanks to availability of parts.

“We hope that the first one will be operating in Australia before the end of the year,” Nargar added.

“The first one being converted right now is going to a customer once they’ve replaced the tanks. That operator has the capacity to run it at both Port Kembla and Geelong – the stations are ready to go.”

Though still early days, AMQ’s team is already re-engineering the XCIENT to suit Australian road conditions and meet ADR compliance, starting with a New Zealand-delivered right-hand drive model that shares many components with the diesel XCIENT.

BOSSCAP Group Chief Engineer, Chris Fostineo, brings extensive experience from Ford F-150 remanufacturer, RMA, and Premcar. He says the process involves a thorough reengineering of the New Zealand model for local conditions.

“The first one came from New Zealand, so this one here is a right-hand drive example. It’s about reproducing this while making improvements for Australia’s unique conditions,” Fostineo said.

“There’s a lot of work in the detail alongside the engineering itself. When you’re talking about something as safety-critical as this, everything from the process, design and engineering has to be spot on.”

He adds that, beyond ADR compliance, the trucks need to be engineered to withstand Australia’s unique operating conditions.

“We have probably the harshest conditions of anywhere in the world and we don’t have many A-class roads like Europe, which is why so many brands send their products here to test,” he said.

“You go from minus 10 degrees (Celsius) in the mountains to 50-60 degrees and radiated ground heat in the Pilbara, plus the bulldust which gets into everything.”

Fostineo describes the truck as one of the most advanced vehicles currently in Australia, requiring significant upskilling in both electric and hydrogen systems as well as safety considerations.

“You won’t find systems and technology like this in any other workshop in Australia,” he said.

“It’s essentially an electric drive, a battery – an extension of the Lightning – but instead of a CCS 2 port you’ve got two hydrogen fuel cells and a compressed hydrogen fuel system. It’s got all of the technical challenges that come with that.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time on OH&S and regulatory compliance, as well as upskilling, because hydrogen is still so new here.

“That’s why this collaboration is so exciting because we’re working closely with Hyundai on all of this. It’s not a case of one company doing one thing and the other doing something else. It’s a true collaboration.”