Jun 25, 2008

GM Works to Expand Hydrogen Infrastructure

It doesn’t make much sense to build fuel cell vehicles if drivers can’t obtain the hydrogen fuel they need. Yet at the same time, it doesn’t make much sense to build expensive hydrogen fueling stations if there are no fuel cell cars on the road to make them viable. So who is going to jump into the water first? General Motors Corporation is trying to break up the possible logjam by spurring the installation of new hydrogen stations, even though there are virtually no fuel cell cars on the American roads yet.

As an example of this, GM has teamed with a natural gas company called Clean Energy to open a new hydrogen fueling station in Los Angeles. The hydrogen fueling station will be developed and located at Clean Energy's compressed natural gas (CNG) facility near Los Angeles International Airport. The hydrogen station is expected to open in late summer or early fall and will be used by drivers taking part in Chevrolet's Project Driveway, the world's largest market test of fuel cell vehicles.

GM and Clean Energy are discussing potential opportunities to expand this first station into a network of hydrogen fueling stations by leveraging Clean Energy's natural gas fueling expertise and the real-world customer experience gained by fueling more than 14,000 vehicles daily at over 170 CNG stations across North America.

“Developing and growing hydrogen infrastructure is vital to GM's efforts to bring larger volumes of fuel cell vehicles to the market,” said Mary Beth Stanek, director of energy and environmental policy and commercialization at General Motors. “We’re supporting this hydrogen station near the Los Angeles International Airport, because we recognize a critical role for Clean Energy’s existing CNG infrastructure in helping expand the hydrogen infrastructure. We expect to learn important lessons from Clean Energy's expertise in developing and operating a network of natural gas fueling stations.”