Hydrogen refueling is now available, if you live in Torrance California
On May 10, Toyota opened the first hydrogen refueling station in the United States that's fed directly by an active hydrogen pipeline. Baby steps, absolutely. But when you consider the infrastructure required to actually make this happen it's pretty friggen incredible!
The leader in emissions reduction efforts since just after World War II, California is well into an effort to build the infrastructure for refueling Hydrogen powered vehicles. The state is currently funding construction of 9 hydrogen refueling stations. The Toyota refueling is a privately funded effort. not funded by the state.
Here's a snip of Toyota's press release, and there's a link to the full Press Release at the end of this blog entry:
Torrance, Calif., May 10, 2011 -- Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS) today celebrated the opening of the first hydrogen fueling station in the U.S. fed directly from an active industrial hydrogen pipeline. The station is a collaborative effort between Toyota, Air Products, Shell, South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the Department of Energy (DOE). The facility will provide hydrogen for the Toyota fuel cell hybrid demonstration program vehicles as well as other manufacturers’ fuel cell vehicle fleets in the Los Angeles area.
“Building an extensive hydrogen re-fueling infrastructure is a critical step in the successful market launch of fuel cell vehicles,” said Chris Hostetter, group vice president, product and strategic planning, TMS. “We plan to bring a fuel cell vehicle to market in 2015, or sooner, and the infrastructure must be in place to support our customers’ needs.”