Hydrogen Milestone in Japan

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fuel cells, H2FC, Japan

It was recently announced that Japan will be opening its 100th Hydrogen fueling station this Spring, making it the first country in the world to reach this milestone.  According to the article below, Japan has been greatly expanding its hydrogen fueling infrastructure as it expects to have 40,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road by 2020.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/03/1e50efc636ca-japan-to-be-1st-country-to-reach-100-hydrogen-filling-station-milestone.html

By comparison, there are currently around 40 hydrogen fueling stations in Germany and 30 in the U.S..

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An Update on H2 Fuel Cell Cars (and Trucks!)

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emissions, fuel cells, H2 fuel cells, H2FC, trucks

This recent article gives a nice summary of the state of H2 fuel cell vehicles in the U.S. and around the world with a focus on describing plans by a company out of Utah (Nikola) to develop a nation-wide H2 refueling network for hybrid H2/electric tractor trailers or semis:

https://www.trucks.com/2016/12/20/nikola-hydrogen-electric-truck-fuel-network/

You can see a map of the approximate locations of the planned fueling stations here. “Big rigs” are an exciting opportunity for H2 fuel cells because their larger size (fuel tanks) can be leveraged to give them a long range (distance traveled between fueling), and unlike an average private vehicle, it’s more common for a truck to a few well-defined routes. Thus, an early fleet of trucks can get by on fewer fueling stations.  Importantly, an analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists notes in this  article that although big rigs only make up 7-10% of the vehicles on the road, they consume 25% of the fuel.

Although the H2 refueling network in the US is currently confined to California, the article above reports that a network of stations will soon be installed in the Northeast, and points out that extensive systems are in place or being built in other countries in the world like Denmark, Japan, and Germany.