We’re still a very long way from the hydrogen-fueled economy envisioned by former President George Bush back in 2003, but carmakers, along with other private companies and governments are taking small steps towards this goal.
This week, the California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded Hydrogen Frontier, Inc. a $3 million (€2.3 million) grant to transform Hyundai’s existing hydrogen energy generation and fueling station in Chino, California, to a modern 100 percent renewable hydrogen fueling station for fuel cell electric vehicles.
Together with an additional $1.7 million by partners Hydrogen Frontier Inc., Powertech and ITM Power, the state-source funds will help Hyundai’s Chino facility produce at least 100 kilograms of hydrogen per day, which the company says is “enough to distribute approximately 6,000 to 9,000 vehicle fill-ups with hydrogen annually”. That may sound a lot, but if you do the math, it comes out to about 16 to 25 vehicles a day.
“Hyundai has been supporting governments, energy companies and other organizations globally to develop an easily accessible and affordable hydrogen infrastructure,” said Dr. Sung Hwan Cho, president, Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. “With world-class partners like Hydrogen Frontier and the support of the California government, we are expanding the hydrogen fueling infrastructure and taking one more step toward mass production of a fuel cell electric vehicle.”
Hyundai itself released a fuel-cell version of its ix35 (or Tucson in the States) crossover in March this year aiming to produce 1,000 examples by 2015. The Korean company is currently evaluating plans to introduce a small fleet in California.
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