In October 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger drove his hydrogen modified H2H Hummer to LAX airport to open California’s first public hydrogen fueling station. Since then the governor has developed and promoted California’s Hydrogen Highway system.
Yesterday, at the Shell hydrogen fueling station in West Los Angeles Gov. Schwarzenegger spoke on behalf not only about the Hydrogen Highway (which has 26 fueling stations) but also the Hydrogen Road Tour 2009 that is currently in caravan from Chula Vista, CA to Vancouver, BC.
Since October 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger has ditched the hydrogen Hummer and instead started driving a Hummer fueled by vegetable oil. Yesterday, however, Schwarzenegger drove up in his Honda Clarity fuel cell car, saying, “I just got the Clarity, which is a wonderful hydrogen vehicle. We’re all fighting over who is driving it. My daughters want to drive it all the time and take it away from me.”
Even thought the Hydrogen Road Tour 2009 has created quite a buzz with interested parties showing up at the 28 stops along the way, not everyone is thrilled with the prospects for hydrogen cars going forward. In particular, the National Hydrogen Association (NHA) is less than happy with President Obama’s budget cuts for hydrogen in 2010, which seek to slash over 100 million from the hydrogen R&D budget.
For those interested in contacting their congressional representatives about the cuts you can go to the NHA’s H2&You website and let your representatives know how you feel about picking electric cars over hydrogen cars and how this is a bad long-term goal for this country.