
Is clean, green piston power really a possibility? More importantly, who will lead the hydrogen-as-a-vehicle-fuel revolution?
Join our auto experts on Wednesday, May 3, at 11 AM ET at the season finale to learn more if hydrogen refueling infrastructure can catch up to the growth in EV charging stations.
Moderated by David Booth, Senior Writer, Driving
Expert Panel:
MODERATOR
David Booth, Senior Writer, Driving
PANELISTS
- Jeff Grant, Vice President, Transportation Solutions, HTEC
- Dr. Nasir Mahmood, PhD. CPEng, Vice Chancellors Senior Research Fellow, RMIT University
- Craig Scott, Group Manager & Director of Fuel Cell Solutions, Toyota Motor North America
- Jessica Verhagen, CEO, Hydra Energy
David Booth, Driving’s Senior Writer, has a Bachelor’s degree in engineering complemented by decades working as an automotive journalist and commentator. He has a cynic’s view of politics, a child’s wonder for anything powerful and an engineer’s curiosity about how things work, all crucial for dissecting and disseminating the technology the industry constantly springs on us. And for the record, he thinks hybridization is the future, worships at the altar of supercars and absolutely adores his motorcycles, so his perfect vehicle is a 700-horsepower plug-in with two wheels.
Jeff Grant has over 22 years’ experience in business and project development and government relations in the hydrogen sector. At HTEC, Jeff is responsible for the Transportation Solutions department, involving fleet transition planning, transportation project development and execution, and vehicle leasing for heavy-duty fleet partners.
With a passion for electrification of the transportation industry, Jeff has been instrumental in developing hydrogen and fuel cell equipment deployments in early markets. Prior to joining HTEC, Jeff was the principal and co-founder of Zen Clean Energy Solutions. He led Zen’s project development and fleet transition verticals with a focus on creating and refining ideas, finding, and securing non-dilutive funding, identifying partnerships, and delivering contracts. He led multiple project development files for Zen, including key partnerships for HTEC’s early-stage light-duty fueling network in BC. At Ballard Power Systems, Jeff spent 15 years in several key business development roles, including the commercial lead for the North American bus market. Jeff recently served as the Vice Chair of Hydrogen BC.
Nasir Mahmood is a Vice-Chancellor Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University, obtained his PhD from Peking University in 2015. His research interest involves the development of advanced materials for a sustainable society. He is one of the highly cited researchers in the World by Clarivate, WebofScience. His early career began at the University of Wollongong, Australia (2015-16) followed by securing a research fellow position at Tianjin University, China (2016-17). He has an excellent track record in publishing high-quality publications >145 with citations >12,000 and an H-index of 54 as well as holds 6 patents/applications and author of 10 books/book chapters, commercialization, attracting research funding and media attention, managing editorial responsibilities and organizing conferences. His research has been highlighted in more than 1000 media blogs, magazines, television, and radio in many different languages across the world, reaching over 400 million people. He has been awarded several prestigious awards including the Beijing Science and Technology Award 2018 by the Municipal Government of Beijing, China in recognition of his contribution to the technological and economic advancement of Capital City Beijing, RMIT Vice-Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellowship (2019-2022) and RMIT Vice-Chancellor Senior Research Fellowship (2022-2026). He is also serving as an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Chemistry.
Craig Scott is GM/Director of Fuel Cell Solutions at Toyota Motor North America. Within his role, Craig is responsible for managing the planning and development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle programs including heavy duty, commercial vehicle products with Kenworth/Paccar & Hino Motors America. In addition, Craig is expanding the role of hydrogen into non-automotive spaces such as stationary power and aviation. Previously he managed vehicle programs including the Toyota Mirai, Gen 2 Prius, RAV4 & Scion iQ EVs as well as the Toyota i-Road urban mobility vehicle. Beyond vehicle development, Craig also manages hydrogen-related strategic alliances and helps oversee US hydrogen infrastructure planning and implementation activities. Prior to joining Toyota in 2001, Craig was an associate fixed income portfolio manager with Pacific Investment Management Company in Newport Beach, CA.
Craig has a BS in Finance and Japanese Studies and earned a MBA in Strategy and Finance from the University of Southern California. Craig enjoys spending time with his family in Scotland and playing tennis near his home in Los Angeles.
Jessica brings nearly 20 years of experience at the intersection of environment and finance, with her accomplishments recognized with a Business in Vancouver Top 40 Under 40 and a Canada’s Clean50 award in 2021. Promoted from Hydra COO to CEO in 2021, she was previously the VP of Business Development for Ecosphere+, part of Mirova Natural Capital in London, where she successfully sold hundreds of millions in international environmental assets, proving a new business model for investing in nature. Jessica supported the close of the Series B round and the go-to-market strategy for global Top 100 cleantech company, Axine Water and was part of the founding team of Evoke Innovations, a fund that raised $100 million from oil and gas companies to invest in early stage cleantech. She began her career in government, where she was responsible for some of North America’s first legislation and stakeholder engagement on emissions reporting and trading, carbon taxes and offsets.