In May 2010 I had talked about how future hydrogen fueling stations could be built at retail stores and shopping malls. One reader had emailed me the idea of putting up hydrogen fueling stations at car dealerships.
Here is what I had said about that, “One reader said that since there are over 20,000 new car dealerships in the U. S. at least some of them could put up a hydrogen pump to support the hydrogen cars they are supposed to be selling in 2015.”
In April 2008, Larry Burns of General Motors stated, “A network of 12,000 hydrogen stations in the United States would put 70 percent of the U.S. population within two miles of a fueling station. If the stations cost $2 million each (estimates for the cost of a station range from $1 million to $4 million) the network would cost about $24 billion.”
So, recently, Toyota has started talking about building hydrogen pumps at their car dealerships along with landfills and dumps as well.
According to Bloomberg, “California committed last year to spending as much as $200 million to expand its fueling network by 2024. Toyota is working with the University of California at Irvine and state officials to identify ideal locations for future fuel pumps. Only 68 stations are needed to ensure most California drivers have a place to refuel.”
So, let me do some quick math in my head. California is the third largest state in the U. S. behind Alaska and Texas in total area. If California needs only 68 hydrogen fueling stations for a skeletal H2 infrastructure, then let’s multiply this by the 50 states. The total is 3400 stations. Of course this is a rough estimate as some states like Texas will need more stations and many states like New Hampshire and Rhode Island will need less.
Besides car dealerships, landfills and trash dumps, in my May 2010 blog post I had talked about other alternative sites for hydrogen fueling stations which can be found here. What are your alternatives?
Kevin, thanks for the article. Perhaps you could share the source of the news that Toyota will build these stations? While dealerships may satisfy many of the population proximity requirements for California, it doesn’t seem logical that an automaker will get into the fueling business or that a dealer would sacrifice their valuable real estate for fueling sales.
You didn’t mean that Toyota would build landfills and dumps at their dealerships, but that Toyota was looking at those locations for fueling locations as well. I had a chuckle when I read that sentence.
Hey David, the link that you’re looking for is in the last paragraph and it will explain several of your questions. Glad to entertain you. 🙂