Hydrogen trucking manufacturer Hyzon Motors has appointed Shinichi Hirano as fuel cell chief engineer.
Hirano is a 30-year veteran of automotive fuel cell technology. He brings to Hyzon decades of expertise, including his recent 17-year leadership tenure at Ford Motor Company, where he served as the principal research engineer and technology expert for fuel cells.
While at Ford, Hirano also led the Ford-Daimler fuel cell alliance, and USCAR Fuel Cell Teams in partnership with the US Department of Energy.
Prior to his arrival at Ford in 2003, Hirano started his professional career at Mazda Motor Corporation, where he spent more than eight years leading various hydrogen and fuel cell related research projects, including the development of the Mazda Demio fuel cell vehicle.
Hirano holds 25 US patents in the automotive hydrogen fuel cell and battery areas and has published 15 papers for peer-reviewed journals.
He studied electrical engineering at Tokyo University of Science and continued his fuel cell catalyst and MEA research as a guest scientist at Texas A&M University’s Center for Electrochemical Systems and Hydrogen Research.
Hyzon chief executive and co-founder Craig Knight says the appointment of Hirano will help the company’s leadership position in hydrogen fuel cell technology.
“Shinichi is extremely talented and very well regarded by colleagues in the global automotive fuel cell and hydrogen arenas, having been the resident expert at two of the world’s largest vehicle brands,” Knight says.
