Hizon creates US gas mobile market niche for survival

In its short four-year history, Hyzen Motors has experienced far more gale force winds than bright days. As it struggles to survive, the industrial gas mobile maker is focusing on the US, where it values ​​hydrogen and zero-emission gas cars.

SPAC chasing cash

A derivative of Singapore-based Horizon Gasoline Mobile Applied Sciences, Hyzon entered into a reverse merger with special target acquisition company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp in July 2021. It generated $550 million of industry revenue, which was cash long after it was spent.

Horizon introduced a bundle of gas cells in China in 2020 ahead of Hyzon status. It acquired Common Motors’ former gas mobile analysis facility in Rochester, New York. Hyzen recently offered the position for $2.9 million.

The company chose America for the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: It’s where the money used to be, former CEO Craig Knight told me during the height of the SPAC craze.

However building the industry within the US proved difficult. Those who wanted to own a retrofitted gas mobile truck did not want to pay for the privilege. Therefore, Hizon focused on the Netherlands, China, Australia and pristine Zealand, where companies raised the least deposits for trials. Knight said markets were further away in 2022 than North America.

Hizone exiting the market led to early fortunes

On Monday, Hyzen said he was pulling out of Europe and Australia. It set aside $17 million to cover the value of the kit, protected alternative losses and severance pay to an undisclosed selection of workers. A spokesperson for the company declined to provide any details beyond the information reported by Hyzen in the news shed and its 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“This was a complex and difficult decision,” CEO Parker Meeks said at the news shed. “Given the challenges of bringing new technology to market in an emerging industry, we believe we need to focus our efforts on the North American market and decline the industry as well, starting this summer “They need to oversee our large fleet testing programs.”

Hizon focuses on manufacturing gas cells for specific vehicle and repair failure markets in North America.

Consistent with Hyzen, executive support for gas cell-powered transportation has declined in Europe and Australia. It says that many European countries have ended hydrogen subsidies. The HiZone gadgets that put together a cabover in Europe and an inflexible platform in Australia are bugging me. However, Hyzon may return to these markets as a gas mobile provider for OEMs.

Hydrogen gas mobile work is underway in Europe. For example, in Germany Hylen, together with Hizon Fashion and Hyundai Axient, rents gas mobile vehicles. The CellCentric three-way partnership between Daimler Trucks and Volvo Crew produces gas cells for both companies. Manufacturing has grown deliberately in the second half of the last decade.

the story continues

condition of china

China, where Hizon still has a presence, has proven difficult. Knight was removed as CEO in August 2022, and Hyzon co-founder and chairman George Gu left his post following allegations from a supplier that Hyzon had fabricated gas mobile orders in China. This resulted in an SEC investigation. Hyzen assured to pay $25 million to the SEC on the phantom order.

Knight paid a non-public fine of $100,000 and returned a profit as part of the SEC’s continuing settlement. The company said he would have had more information on what was happening in China. Knight has since returned to Horizon as an assistant on the challenge of building an electrolyzer to put together green hydrogen.

The SEC investigation sidelined Hyzen in 2022. However, under Meeks, a former McKinsey supervisor, Hyzen addressed many of its financial missteps, fought off delisting through Nasdaq, and reorganized the industry.

“Historically before the restructuring that we started with the leadership change, we were spending a lot more on the vehicle side,” Meeks told me in June 2023. We were not paying enough attention to the fuel cell side. And we were making lots of different vehicle variants in lots of different places.” At its peak, Hyzen had a portfolio of 20 cars.

Negative contrast book crack in view

With the days of simple cash over, the company has struggled to raise supplemental capital. Its book value has declined by less than $1 percent since January. Hizon will once again face delisting from Nasdaq on July 22.

Hizon implemented a move on July 5 to switch from Nasdaq’s highest-tier International Select Marketplace to the lowest-tier Capital Marketplace, which has less stringent capitalization rules. This will provide additional time of 180 days to increase its book value. Hyzen had cash and equivalents of approximately $82 million at the end of Q1. It is going to record by the end of the second quarter in early August.

Where diverse startups in matching situations have done reverse book splits – swapping an ancient percentage for more of the current shares to artificially boost their value above the Nasdaq threshold of $1 – Hyzen has now done these. Has not pursued any advances since.

Even though it handed over operational control as part of the SEC fallout, Horizon – which once owned 60% of Hyzen’s equity – still owns more than 40%. It sold more than 7 million shares between Feb. 5 and June 4, according to SEC filings.

Hyzen has been a clear buy for over a year. It has retained PJT Partners to support the lift capital. If it can’t raise more cash, Hyzen will rely on supplemental layoffs and a conceivable chapter restructuring.

a big pile

Down in Meeks, Hyzen has delivered 4 retrofitted gas cell equipped vehicles to the Efficiency Meals crew. If that’s any indication, distributors and marketers of food and food-related products could potentially come back for 45 of Hyzon’s single-stack 200-kilowatt gas cells.

The 200-kilowatt stack is unique compared to competition like Bosch, CellCentric, Ballard and Cummins, which requires more than one stack to achieve efficiency.

Meeks views the wrong market, with its high-power desires and relatively disconnected routes, as best for a gas mobile utility. Hyzon announced a joint manufacturing assurance with Pristine Manor Vehicles and unveiled the first hydrogen-powered misc truck for the US market at WestExpo in May. It expects to begin trials with major fault collection fleets this summer.

California port is spending a tremendous amount of money on electrical infrastructure

The ports of Long Seaside and Los Angeles are starting to spend cash collected for boxes brought in and out of the ports via diesel-powered dredge vehicles on heavy-duty electrical truck charging infrastructure.

With a combined cost cap of $135 million, a group led by Cell Supply Breeze Air Pollution Relief Assessment Committee will install 207 charging stations across 8 locations. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Seaside each dedicated $12.5 million.

“With more than 23,000 trucks operating at the port, the investment potential provided by the Clean Truck Fund rate is key to our air quality efforts,” Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Seaside, said in a statement.

The ports began charging $10 per twenty-foot identical unit and $20 per forty-foot identical unit under their blank truck capital treasury in April 2022. In November, each port contributed $30 million in hybrid and 0 emissions truck and bus incentives. Voucher program to offset the purchase of electrical vehicles.

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That’s all for this generation. Thanks for studying and watching. Click here to subscribe and get Truck Tech delivered to your inbox on Fridays. And check out original episodes and video shorts of the Truck Tech Podcast on the FreightWaves YouTube channel. Send your comments on truck tech to Alan Adler at aadler@firecrown.com.

Hizon first made an impact on freightwaves, specializing in the US gas mobile market for survival.