A hydrogen highway is a chain of
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
-equipped public
filling stations
A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel.
Gasol ...
, along a road or highway, that allows
hydrogen powered cars to travel. It is an element of the
hydrogen infrastructure
A hydrogen infrastructure is the infrastructure of hydrogen pipeline transport, points of hydrogen production and hydrogen stations (sometimes clustered as a hydrogen highway) for distribution as well as the sale of hydrogen fuel, and thus a crucia ...
that is generally assumed to be a pre-requisite for mass utilization of hydrogen cars. For instance,
William Clay Ford Jr
William Clay Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is an American businessman, serving as executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chairman since January 19 ...
. has stated that infrastructure is one of three factors (also including costs and manufacturability in high volumes) that hold back the marketability of
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...
cars.
Supply issues, cost and pollution
Hydrogen fueling stations generally receive deliveries of hydrogen by tanker truck from hydrogen suppliers.
[ An interruption at a hydrogen supply facility can shut down multiple hydrogen fueling stations. A hydrogen fueling station costs between $1 million and $4 million to build.
As of 2019, 98% of hydrogen is produced by ]steam methane reforming
Steam reforming or steam methane reforming (SMR) is a method for producing syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) by reaction of hydrocarbons with water. Commonly natural gas is the feedstock. The main purpose of this technology is hydrogen produc ...
, which emits carbon dioxide. The bulk of hydrogen is also transported in trucks, so pollution is emitted in its transportation.["Transportable Hydrogen Dispensing"]
Protium.aero, May 2, 2016
Existing public stations
Asia
At the end of 2012 there were 17 private hydrogen station
A hydrogen station is a storage or filling station for Hydrogen. The hydrogen is dispensed by weight. There are two filling pressures in common use. H70 or 700 bar, and the older standard H35 or 350 bar. As of 2021 around 550 filling stations were ...
s. In 2014, Japan got its first commercial hydrogen fueling station.
As of June 2020, there were 178 publicly available hydrogen fuel stations in operation in Asia. 114 of these were in Japan.
Europe
As of November 2014, there were 27 publicly available hydrogen fuel stations in operation in Western Europe. As of June 2020, there were more than 177 stations in Europe and 43 under construction; about half of these were in Germany.
United States
In 2013, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that there were "10 hydrogen stations available to the public in the United States: one in Columbia, S.C., eight in Southern California and the one in Emeryville Emeryville may refer to:
* Emeryville, California
Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San ...
, California".[Berman, Bradley]
"Fuel Cells at Center Stage"
''New York Times, November 24, 2013, p. AU1 , there were 54 publicly accessible hydrogen refueling stations in the US, 53 of which were located in California, and one in Hawaii.[Alternative Fueling Station Counts by State]
''Alternative Fuels Data Center'', accessed August 31, 2020
See also
* Scandinavian hydrogen highway partnership The Scandinavian hydrogen highway partnership is a collaboration started in June 2006 to connect the hydrogen highways hydrogen link network (Denmark), Hyfuture (Sweden) and Hynor (Norway).
The planned highway is part of the hydrogen infrastructu ...
* BC hydrogen highway The BC Hydrogen Highway was a planned hydrogen highway that was supposed to link Vancouver and Whistler with seven hydrogen fueling stations. On March 13, 2007, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced funding of almost $200 million Canadi ...
* California Hydrogen Highway The California Hydrogen Highway is a series of hydrogen refueling stations in California. These stations are used to refuel hydrogen vehicles. , there were 42 publicly accessible hydrogen refueling stations in California.[Hydrogen economy
The hydrogen economy is using hydrogen to decarbonize economic sectors which are hard to electrify, essentially, the "hard-to-abate" sectors such as cement, steel, long-haul transport etc. In order to phase out fossil fuels and limit climate ch ...]
References
{{Reflist
External links
California Hydrogen Highway
Hydrogen Highway, Norway to Germany
Interactive map of hydrogen stations in Europe and worldwide
Interactive map of hydrogen stations in Europe and worldwide
(includes non-public stations)
Road infrastructure
Hydrogen infrastructure
Hydrogen economy
Filling stations