We're back! The Australian hydrogen H2X Warrego ute goes into final testing before release into the wild!

Australia’s car manufacturing industry is rising out of the ashes with Victorian company H2X announcing final testing of its Warrego hydrogen fuel-cell ute.

The Warrego will be the first production vehicle from H2X with the company revealing that the all-wheel-drive ute is undergoing rigorous compliance validation and verification in Europe.

H2X said the Warrego would get a European release first due to the availability of hydrogen fuelling stations for customers and government support for the new fuel.

But fear not, the company said the Warrego would be launched in Australia with testing of a right-hand-drive vehicle to start soon.

According to H2X, the Warrego will come in three specifications: the 66, 90 and 90XR. All will have a 1000kg tray carrying capacity and a 2500kg braked towing capacity. 

The Warrego 66 will be available in both two-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, with a power output of 200kW, a range of 500km and a 0-100km/h time of 11 seconds. 

The Warrego 90 and 90XR will be all-wheel drive only, produce 220kW and accelerate to 100km/h in 8 seconds. The 90XR will have an extended range of 750km.

“The first release of Warrego features a 60kW fuel cell connected to a hybrid battery/supercapacitor electric drive system,” H2X said.  

“This is connected to a 700-bar type 4 hydrogen tank system constructed of an advanced polymer and carbon-fibre base which offers exceptional safety levels with very long standards of operation.”

H2X CEO Brendan Norman said that the Warrego would also form the basis of upcoming models such as a van in the very near future.

“The Warrego is essentially a demonstration vehicle which we are able to offer to several customers in order to accelerate the availability of an AWD light commercial vehicles to customers, using a state-of-the-art hybrid hydrogen fuel cell system,” he said.

“This application will be applied in a more optimised form in the Darling Delivery Van and Taxi/MPV targeted for release by the end of 2024 to support the large number of cities in Europe which will be closed off from diesel and petrol vehicles from 2025.” 

The starting price of the Warrego ute is expected to be $189,000 for the 66, while the 90 and 90XR are expected to list for $250,000. That price hasn’t been too much to turn customers off with orders topping 250.

The Warrego was due to be released in Australia this year but H2X said parts shortage have delayed the launch.

“It is true that we have had some frustrating delays over the past nine months, however, we are now well on track with our roll out plans,” Mr Norman said.

“It is extremely satisfying that our team now have the Warrego running through the final stages of its engineering, safety and on road verification program and production readiness.

“Supply chain issues, which have negatively impacted manufacturing companies worldwide, put us about nine months behind schedule, however, our production and engineering teams have done an amazing job to overcome these problems and we are now back on schedule.”

The Warrego will be built in Australia at H2X’s facility in Sale, Victoria and also in Europe.