First Hydrogen Corp. announced the launch of its new hydrogen-powered-fuel-cell vehicle ("FCEV") program for North America. The North American ("NA") program will perfectly align with the Company's expansion plan and the maturity of Quebec's hydrogen ecosystem.

First Hydrogen intends to develop two additional demonstrator FCEVs to showcase with potential North American fleet customers. The Company will continue its successful trial program in the United Kingdom with interested fleet operators. First Hydrogen's FCEV trials have shown hydrogen power will be essential to meet the critical range, payload towing and fast refueling capabilities required by fleet operators in sectors such as grocery, parcel delivery, mining and utilities which cannot be met by battery-electric vehicles ("BEV").

Over the past year, First Hydrogen's UK engineering team's dedication to the development of the Company's FCEV has created leading know-how and expertise in the hydrogen automotive sector. The North American demonstrator program is the next step towards the Company's plan s to build a vehicle assembly facility and green hydrogen production plant in Shawinigan, Quebec. The Company's "Hydrogen-as-a-Service" model will provide customers in the Montreal-Quebec City hub with clean green hydrogen fuel and zero-emission commercial vehicles in order to accelerate the creation of zero-emission ecosystem solutions.

The assembly facility target will be for annual production of up to 25,000 vehicles for distribution throughout North America and will represent a major boost to green technology jobs in the region. The North American, Quebec-based, development program will be led by Stephane Gagnon as the Lead Engineer. Mr. Gagnon brings over 30 years of extensive experience to First Hydrogen, previously as program manager for the development of the Airbus A220 (C-Series) at Bombardier Aeronautique and as chief engineer at Novabus (a division of Volvo Group).

Mr. Gagnon will work closely with Head of Automotive, Steve Gill and his team.