California is essentially the only state in the USA that has any hydrogen cars to speak of, but even in that state, there are only about 12,000 of them on the roads. Despite this, the state intends to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year (or more) to build a refueling network for those vehicles.
California lawmakers are now debating how much money to pour into a fueling station network for hydrogen cars.
A lobbying group for suppliers and supporters of H2 includes Shell, Chevron and Toyota is aiming for a designated 30% of the Clean Transportation Program money, which would represent about $300 million spent over the next 10 years.
Today, there are only two H2-powered models available in California, the Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai Nexo. Of those, only 1,767 have been sold in the state. There has already been a 20% decline in sales from last year to this year, though the summer did see an uptick.
Source: Hydrogen Fuel News: Read The Article
PSR Analysis: Hydrogen is a light and leaky gas that many worry should not be used for fuel, and especially not for domestic heating. You can find more information about this by searching for Michael Barnard’s “hydrogen ladder.” If you compare the growth of hydrogen v’s EV chargers, there are accusations that the state is being asked to set up the refueling infrastructure while EV chargers were mostly established by private companies. PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research
