Hyzon CEO Meeks Exits, Ex-Daimler Truck Executive Takes Over
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Parker Meeks stepped down as CEO at troubled hydrogen fuel cell electric truck maker Hyzon.
Meeks was appointed CEO permanently in April 2023, having held the role on an interim basis since August 2022. Previously, Meeks was the company’s chief strategy officer and before that an executive in the construction management division of TRC Cos.
Chief Technology Officer Christian Mohrdieck will replace Meeks as the company’s top executive. Mohrdieck joined Hyzon in January 2024.
Prior to joining Bolingbrook, Ill.-based Hyzon, Mohrdieck was chief commercial officer at hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer Cellcentric and before that led truck manufacturer Daimler Truck’s fuel cell program.
Mohrdieck
Cellcentric is a joint venture between Daimler Truck and fellow truck maker Volvo Group.
As CCO at Cellcentric, Mohrdieck led fuel cell intellectual properties, legal and governmental affairs activities, as well as marketing, communications and sales.
Between 2012 and 2021, Mohrdieck was CEO and director of fuel cell of Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell, and managing director of Daimler Truck Fuel Cell.
Cellcentric began pilot production of hydrogen fuel cells June 20 at its Esslingen plant in Germany.
In October, Hyzon started series production in Bolingbrook of the 200-kilowatt fuel cell system set to power its trucks. The Bolingbrook facility can produce 700 fuel cell systems a year on a three-shift basis.
Mohrdieck is tasked with keeping Hyzon afloat in his latest role.
The company said in December it planned to start laying off staff in February if it could not find a buyer or raise more funds.
Hyzon began warning as early as June 2023 that layoffs in the U.S. and a new owner were a possibility and that more funds were needed even as the start of serial production of its Class 8 tractor approached.
The company already shuttered its overseas operations, including in the Netherlands and Australia.
Hyzon said in December difficulties in raising funding and uncertainty related to the availability of government subsidies was exacerbating the straits the company found itself in.
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A number of Hyzon’s peers in the alternative fuel truck firmament are experiencing a similarly chastening time and future — including Nikola, Lion Electric and Quantron — leading to layoffs, asset sales and a possible 2025 bloodbath among challengers to legacy truck makers.
Representatives of Hyzon were not immediately available for comment on Meeks’ exit or whether further departures among the original equipment manufacturer’s employees were underway as forewarned in December.
Hyzon had expected 2024 to end much more optimistically, even after a strategic revamp in June. In September, Hyzon began series production of its 200-kW Class 8 tractor. Production is taking place at a Fontaine Modification facility in Charlotte, N.C.
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