Air Products announces plan to build California hydrogen refueling network

At the recent California Hydrogen Convention in Los Angeles, Eric Guter, vice president of Hydrogen for Mobility at industrial gases company Air Products, announced the company’s intention to build a network of permanent, commercial-scale, multi-modal hydrogen refueling stations stretching from Northern California to Southern California.

Eric Guter. (Photo: Air Products)

“Building a robust hydrogen economy infrastructure is critical to the success of the energy transition and meeting our climate change goals,” Guter said. “California is a leader in the energy transition and a first-mover in making zero-emission, heavy-duty transportation in the U.S. a reality.”

The permanent, multi-modal hydrogen refueling stations will be equipped to serve heavy-duty vehicles, such as commercial and municipal trucks and buses, as well light-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Air Products said.

Alison Hawkins, general manager of Hydrogen for Mobility, Americas for Air Products, said each station will be able to fuel up to 200 heavy-duty trucks or 2,000 cars per day.

Air Products said its California pipeline network supplied hydrogen to the nation’s first pipeline-fed hydrogen fueling station in Torrance, Calif., in 2011. The company currently operates six hydrogen refueling stations in Southern California. It has operating experience with over 250 hydrogen fueling station projects in 20 countries, Air Products said, with the company’s technologies being used in over 1.5 million fueling operations annually.

The announcement of a California hydrogen refueling station network follows Air Products’ recent announcement of plans to build a network of multi-modal hydrogen refueling stations connecting Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

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