Achieving a sustainable automotive transportation system that has low impact on the environment is an important long-term goal of the automotive industry, and there is a broad and growing consensus that this sustainable future rests on electric propulsion. As vehicle propulsion shifts to electric power, hydrogen and fuel cells will play a key role – recognizing this is the only full-range-capable vehicle technology that achieves zero-emissions.

There is an ongoing public debate relative to the viability of a hydrogen fueling infrastructure.  However, a review of available energy industry-fed analyses provides a compelling case in support of hydrogen.  For example, there is a significant and growing body of evidence suggesting that when hydrogen fueling stations, using technology available today, are well-utilized, customers will not have to pay more per mile for hydrogen than they do for gasoline – that is, equivalent to $2-$3/gallon of gasoline.

An overview of our findings will be presented here.  We will conclude that while initial hydrogen infrastructure implementations may not provide all the benefits of the end game, they can feed further learning, build confidence in the long-term vision, and create the necessary asset base for future growth.  We will also conclude that the long-term vision for hydrogen infrastructure is both viable and compelling.

At present, automakers are deploying increasingly larger volumes of vehicles to demonstrate increasingly capable fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) technologies.  The current shift in FCEV deployment to pre-commercial “real world” market acceptance testing requires a complementary shift in hydrogen fueling station deployment.  Convincing and compelling demonstrations of fueling safety and convenience are critical to vehicle market acceptance. A practical first step would be to focus initial fueling coverage in concentrated regions.  For example, 40 high-capacity stations in a large metropolitan area such as Los Angeles could be built with an initial investment of less than $200 million and provide refueling for more than 40,000 FCEVs.

To support vehicle sales, fueling station deployments needs to satisfy driver demands for fueling and inspire confidence in a hydrogen future – so now is the time to demonstrate safe, convenient, affordable, and readily-available hydrogen. Numerous studies show hydrogen cost at the pump can be equivalent or better than gasoline in energy cost per-mile-driven. Vehicle deployment is broadening and moving to pre-commercial market readiness.  Deployment of fueling infrastructure, which should lead vehicle deployment for successful commercialization, has lagged behind in terms of both technology development and deployment funding.  An infrastructure commitment commensurate to automakers’ FCEV commitments is required to give the public comfortable, affordable, and regionally available access to hydrogen.