Nikola partners with Albuquerque-based BayoTech for hydrogen transport, offtake
BayoTech, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based hydrogen transportation company with plans to break into the hydrogen production market, on Thursday announced a partnership with Nikola Corp. (Nasdaq: NKLA) for hydrogen transport and offtake.
The agreement will see BayoTech purchase up to 50 of Phoenix-based Nikola’s Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles over the next five years, while the Phoenix-based transportation company will bring on up to 10 of BayoTech’s hydrogen transportation systems. BayoTech officials declined to disclose the financial details of the partnership.
Part of the agreement will also see Nikola Corp., through its HYLA brand, take delivery of hydrogen produced at BayoTech production hubs as the Albuquerque company’s “anchor hydrogen offtake customer,” according to a BayoTech announcement. The first of those production hubs is set to come online outside of St. Louis, Missouri, before the end of the year.
“We’re immensely proud to be an industry leader in our commitment to deliver hydrogen to local customers via zero-emission fuel cell trucks,” Mo Vargas, the president and CEO of BayoTech, said in a statement. “Partnering with forward-looking companies like Nikola allows us to accelerate the deployment of our hydrogen hub network and stimulate the growth of the hydrogen ecosystem.”
BayoTech is in the process of “moving into a new phase,” Catharine Reid, its chief marketing officer, told Albuquerque Business First. Previously, the firm had been focused on generating revenue primarily through its high-pressure compressed gas transportation and storage modules; BayoTech has delivered over 700 of those systems since 2001, according to its website.
Nikola, through its HYLA brand, received a $41.9 million grant earlier this month to set up six new hydrogen refueling stations in southern California. It announced a round of layoffs last month, with the majority affecting its Arizona workforce.
The HYLA brand was launched in January this year to represent Nikola’s hydrogen business, which includes securing supplies of clean hydrogen to then distribute to customers, the company’s president of energy, Carey Mendes, said at the time.
BayoTech plans to use both renewable and nonrenewable natural gas to produce its hydrogen. It anticipates that its Missouri facility will produce around 600 kilograms of hydrogen per day and that its California site could produce up to 2,000 kilograms of hydrogen per day, Catharine Reid, its chief marketing officer, previously told Albuquerque Business First.
Nikola is planning to build a hydrogen production hub in the Phoenix metro across a nearly 1,000-acre property it purchased last year in Buckeye.