{"id":4323,"date":"2020-06-29T17:43:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T21:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.respectmyplanet.org\/publications\/?p=4323"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:24:37","slug":"usa-canada-quarterly-h2-infrastructure-update-2020-q2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.respectmyplanet.org\/publications\/usa-canada-quarterly-h2-infrastructure-update-2020-q2\/","title":{"rendered":"USA & CANADA QUARTERLY H2 INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE 2020-Q2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome new readers of RMP\u2019s quarterly H2 infrastructure report.  <\/span>Each quarter we look back on the major stories related to hydrogen infrastructure advancements and we compare the current AFDC database to the AFDC database in the prior quarter to see what has changed.  <\/span>The AFDC database is updated by the US Dept of Energy & can be found by clicking here<\/span><\/a>.  <\/span>Canada has just added a brand new data repository for hydrogen stations this quarter<\/span><\/a>.  <\/span>The Canadian website is administered by Natural Resources Canada<\/span><\/a>.   <\/span>RMP will continue to use the US Department of Energy database as our primary data source as we learn more about the new Canadian database.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years now, most of RMP\u2019s quarterly reports on hydrogen infrastructure in the USA have been focused on California.\u00a0 <\/span>The activity in California continues to move forward as seven stations are slated to come online in Q3 & Q4 with 1,200kg capacities, thus doubling the amount of fueling capability in California in one fell swoop over the next half year or so.\u00a0 <\/span>RMP looks forward writing more about that story in 2020-Q3 as it develops.\u00a0 <\/span>But, the story this quarter is a different one because something new is happening:\u00a0 <\/span>hydrogen infrastructure outside of California is really picking up.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Toyota Mirai & Honda Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle are caught refueling by Google Maps street view at Air Liquide’s new hydrogen refueling station in Mansfield, Massachusetts.  You can check out this station and any other in North America by using Google Street view from RMP’s map of all hydrogen stations in the USA & Canada<\/a>.  Seeing this & every other Air Liquide station listed on the data base from Google imagery adds authenticity they exist in a world where a lot of people are all talk & nothing to show for it.  Seeing is believing will the the theme of all the East Coast & Canada stations with pics from Google Street View.  You can go straight to Google Street View of the above image by clicking here<\/a>. (click image to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

RMP adds (and subtracts) stations on our map of all hydrogen refueling stations in North America<\/span><\/a> based on mirroring the AFDC database.\u00a0 <\/span>Something developing on the map is that more stations are built now outside of California:\u00a0 <\/span>on the East Coast of the USA & on both coasts of Canada.\u00a0 <\/span>RMP is now showing seven new Air Liquide stations on the USA East Coast and nine new stations in Canada.\u00a0 <\/span>Those numbers showing hydrogen refueling infrastructure taking a toehold in key demographics for futher adoption & growth.\u00a0 <\/span>Let\u2019s first examine what\u2019s happening on the eastern seaboard of the USA.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air Liquide is the major player driving this sprouting growth on the East Coast of the USA.\u00a0 <\/span>When we actually look to our eastern seaboard we can find a bunch of new hydrogen stations commissioning thanks to Air Liquide.\u00a0 <\/span>We now have four stations in Massachusetts, two of which are brand new Air Liquide stations:\u00a0 <\/span>Braintree & Mansfield.\u00a0 <\/span>Connecticut goes up to a total of three stations with a brand new station commissioning in Hartford.\u00a0 <\/span>Rhode Island gets a new Air Liquide station in Providence.\u00a0 <\/span>The big gainer, though, is New York. \u00a0 <\/span>New York sees the biggest increase from last quarter with one new Air Liquide station commissioning in Hempstead NY and two more New York locations registered as planned on the database:\u00a0 <\/span>Air Liquide-Bronx and Air Liquide-Farmingville.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the satellite imagery view of Air Liquide’s Providence, Rhode Island hydrogen refueling station that looks ready to go.\u00a0 All the components needed for this station to operate on a small footprint are visible on Google Maps.\u00a0 Rhode Island drivers will soon be able to refuel with zero emission hydrogen & clean the air as they drive.\u00a0 Check out RMP’s map of all hydrogen stations in North America by clicking here<\/a>. (click image to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These East Coast stations are all authenticated. <\/span>These aren\u2019t just rows on a spreadsheet any more.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s what makes putting these stations on a real Google map<\/span><\/a> so much fun, you can zoom down to street level & actually see the stations & hydrogen fuel cell vehicles refueling so you know they\u2019re really there.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is Google Street View imagery of the Air Liquide hydrogen refueling station in Hempstead, New York.\u00a0 If you can only see something on stage under glitzy lights by a fancy pitch man, how can you be sure it really exists?\u00a0 \u00a0If you can’t go touch it or go buy it right now, when will it be real?\u00a0 If you can go see something for yourself, it’s easier to believe in.\u00a0 My Japanese friends taught me “genchi genbutsu<\/a>” when I worked for a Japanese manufacturing company, it means “go see for yourself”.\u00a0 If you want to go see this station<\/a> for yourself, check out RMP’s map of all hydrogen refueling stations in the USA & Canada by clicking here<\/a>\u00a0 or check it out on Google Maps by clicking here<\/a>. (click image to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now that we see stations starting to proliferate on the East Coast of the USA we notice something different than what we see in California: a network of connected stations with different state governing bodies. \u00a0 <\/span>Different governors, legislatures, departments of transportation, et Al working together.\u00a0 <\/span>This is really something because California paved the way for other states to start adopting similar safety standards<\/span><\/a>, SAE accepted fueling standards<\/span><\/a>, and hydrogen zoning standards<\/span><\/a> to really get to work.\u00a0 <\/span>Other states like Ohio, near RMP\u2019s home base in Michigan, are starting to build some impressive private liquid hydrogen refueling stations for busses too.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what about our friendly neighbors to the north?  <\/span>RMP also added 8 new stations to our map<\/span><\/a> in Canada between last quarter and this quarter.  <\/span>In fact, just this past week we learned of a brand new station opening in British Columbia.   <\/span>Molly Burgess at H2 View just posted an article<\/span><\/a> that an Esso hydrogen station in Vancouver just opened bringing RMP\u2019s Canadian station total up to 9 stations before the 6\/30\/2020 cut-off for this report.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here is a Google Street Maps view of the Esso hydrogen refueling station in Quebec City Canada.\u00a0 Quebec City is a beautiful place with abundant hydroelectric power generation for making lots of free 100% green hydrogen.\u00a0 \u00a0This is a list of tens of thousands of megawatts of clean Canadian generation capacity<\/a>.\u00a0 The power generation at Montmorency Falls is no longer active but there is power generation just upstream at Marches-Naturelles Hydroelectric Power.\u00a0 Quebec City is such a beautiful place to visit if you never have.\u00a0 \u00a0RMP predicts Quebec City to be the first city in North America to be 100% clean green zero emission hydrogen because of abundance of hydroelectric power in the area.\u00a0 Hydroelectric to hydrogen is truly a “circle of zero emissions” with “hydro” built right into the name of both words.\u00a0 (click image to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

New York shares a length of border with Canada and there are now two planned Shell stations between Montreal & Ottawa that are not very far from Syracuse, New York.  <\/span>The Hydrogenics HQ station in Toronto is not very far from Buffalo, NY either.   <\/span>Plug Power who was very active this past quarter<\/span><\/a> is also bringing hydrogen manufacturing to the old Kodak Park facility in Rochester NY<\/span><\/a> which is not that far from the Canadian border on the south shore of Lake Ontario.   <\/span>The stations taking root in Canada are helping to bring the USA\u2019s East Coast hydrogen refueling coverage from the south end at Air Liquide\u2019s headquarters in Newark, Delaware all the way up to Quebec City in the north.   <\/span>From Quebec City in the northeast, there is a patchwork of stations forming all the way back to Detroit in the west.  <\/span>If you go from Detroit in the northwest down as far south as Ohio and east through Pennsylvania, the USA has hydrogen coverage developing from the Great Lakes to the Statue of Liberty.   <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if all the states I just mentioned are showing they can get it done in the east, you know it won\u2019t be long before Oregon & Washington get it going in the West.  <\/span>If Oregon & Washington get something going, you\u2019ll be able to drive from San Diego California all the way to Vancouver, British Columbia.  <\/span>That will be cool and I would buy a plane ticket just to rent a Mirai to do that zero emissions drive.  <\/span>Pretty cool to think how far we\u2019ve come in just five short years since RMP wrote our first blog post in 2015 that talked about what we thought was going to be happening by 2020.  <\/span>It\u2019s 2020 and RMP predictions are starting to take a real foothold as envisioned.   <\/span>More and more people are learning that one simple thing about hydrogen that RMP has known all along:  <\/span>hydrogen just works economically.  <\/span>Those are the two big stories for 2020-Q2, now let\u2019s get into the data.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is Google Street View imagery of the new Air Liquide hydrogen refueling station in Hartford, Connecticut.\u00a0 \u00a0For all of those in the hydrogen Twittersphere you have to admit Air Liquide has been very busy without a lot of hype.\u00a0 Some people do & some people talk.\u00a0 Air Liquide is building hydrogen refueling stations up and down the East Coast of the USA.\u00a0 You can find this hydrogen station and every other hydrogen station in North America by checking out RMP’s map here<\/a>. (click image to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at the data updates from 2020 Q2:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several stations on the database had their planned opening dates change by three months or one quarter.  <\/span>This is normal for most businesses across the country as we see drastic changes in how we operate as a country while dealing with the COVID-19 virus pandemic.  <\/span>The \u201cbig\u201d 1,200 kilogram stations in California are still on pace to open in 2020.  <\/span>The big station in Fountain Valley California is already commissioning so it\u2019s very close to opening to the public.  <\/span>The big stations at Sunnyvale, Campbell, and Mission Hill should open to the public in Q3 or Q4.   <\/span>The big stations in San Diego, Redwood City, Concord, and Culver City are most in jeopardy of slipping into 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big addition to the database that doesn\u2019t seem to get reported in other publications are the two New York stations registered in the AFDC database that will be built by Air Liquide.  <\/span>Air Liquide is getting a reputation of just getting things done quietly right now while others talk about getting things done in the future.  <\/span>Air Liquide registered a planned station for The Bronx in New York City and a station in Farmingville on Long Island.  <\/span>Based on Air Liquide\u2019s track record, these hydrogen refueling stations in New York City will built on time & commissioning in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New H2 Stations That Opened To The Public 2020 Q2:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only station opening to the public in Q2-2020 is the Esso station in Vancouver reported by H2 View\u2019s Molly Burgess.  <\/span>This section of RMP\u2019s report is not that busy this quarter but Q3 is expected to be a big quarter for station openings.  <\/span>Woodside, the Burbank upgrade, Berkely, Sherman Oaks, & Fountain Valley will probably open in Q3.   <\/span>Those are not just stations opening, those are next generation stations with much larger capacities.  <\/span>The reason this is important to note is that we will see vehicle registration numbers go up because of major hydrogen capacity increases.  <\/span>Vehicle production\u2019s only constraint is refueling stations which is why RMP writes this report each quarter to track infrastructure progress.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hydrogen Vehicle Registration Data:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For vehicle registration data, remember we can only look at data that is one quarter in arrears.  <\/span>Vehicle registration data is tabulated after the quarter ends and then published about two months later.  <\/span>So, for example, data for the quarter ending 3\/31\/2020 is published in May of 2020.  <\/span>Now that is is June of 2020, the data we look at is for 3\/31\/2020 and is about a month old.  <\/span>The reason for this is that compiling vehicle registration data takes time & comes from 100s of different sources.  <\/span>IHS Markit is the company that does this data compiling & publishing.  <\/span>Let\u2019s look at the most current vehicle registration for the period ended 3\/31\/2020.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"FCEVs<\/a>
California data is the only data spiked out by county.\u00a0 \u00a0RMP has been hearing numbers of about 8,400 cars on the road in North American from other websites that do not cite a source.\u00a0 \u00a0RMP trusts IHS Markit as it is an industry standard used by top auto OEMs to verify cost modeling calculations.\u00a0 RMP expects FCEV numbers to grow in relation to the seven hydrogen refueling stations coming online in California with 1,200kg capacities so we will keep tabulating FCEV data as it becomes available.\u00a0 \u00a0The only limiting factor in the number of clean FCEVs on the road is how many stations you build.\u00a0 Hydrogen is as abundant as it is inexhaustible on every corner of our planet.\u00a0 As hydrogen production volume ramps up, costs will ramp down through a phenomenon called economies of scale<\/a>. (click image to enlarge)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hydrogen Headline Highlights 2020 Q2<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 27, 2020 – The first hydrogen powered ferry boat was contracted to AAM shipyard in the San Francisco Bay area.  The 84 passenger ferry will demonstrate a pathway to zero emission marine vessels.  Fuel cells can work anywhere internal combustion engines work.  Large marine craft can store liquid organic hydrogen for massive amounts of onboard energy.  Click here<\/a> to read the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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April 8, 2020 – Forbes published an article about the Intermountain Power Project that will bring “Green Hydrogen” to Los Angeles.  ‘It\u2019s a \u2018ginormous\u2019 battery,\u2019 says Janice Lin with the Green Hydrogen Coalition<\/a>. \u201cThis salt dome formation can store 100,000 mWh \u2014 enough storage for the western U.S.\u201d  She says it could become nation\u2019s first strategic renewable energy reserve. “.  Click here<\/a> to read the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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May 1, 2020 – NREL publishes research information on how to get zero emission hydrogen fuel cell Class 8 “big rigs” on the road quicker.  The US Department of Energy establishes a target of refueling 8 kilograms of hydrogen per minute by 2030 & 10 kilograms of hydrogen per minute by 2050.   Big rigs (like Class 8 trucks & busses) is the most logical start for hydrogen to really proliferate rapidly across the globe.  Click here<\/a> to read the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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June 3, 2020 – NEL receives $30 million USD purchase order to start building hydrogen fueling stations for Nikola based in Phoenix, Arizona.  Nikola has one station at their HQ building in Pheonix, Arizona (pictured left).  When Nikola starts registering planned stations on the AFDC database,  RMP’s will add them to our map.  Click here<\/a> to read the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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June 4, 2020 – Nikola announces that it has become a public company traded on the NASDAQ.  Says the purchase order released to NEL day prior will give Nikola ability to produce 40,000 kilograms of hydrogen per day to refuel Class 8 “big rigs”.   Nikola shows off tentative design of massive refueling stations.  Click here<\/a> to read the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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June 18, 2020 – Keith Malone from the California Fuel Cell Partnership tweets that we can expect announcement of the next round of funding for the next 40 to 50 hydrogen fueling stations in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To add some context: Sometime in July, maybe August at the latest, we expect to see an announcement from the CA Energy Commission of funding for 40-50 additional hydrogen stations, pushing California past the 100 station milestone. #driveH2<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/1ssyTiwvvW<\/a><\/p>— Keith Malone (@ANativeAngeleno) June 17, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>