Hyer.eu is reporting that 12 new hydrogen stations opened worldwide in 2011. The information comes from perusing the information on the H2Stations.org website which keeps track of hydrogen fueling stations, opened, planned or closed globally.
According to Hyer.eu, “In 2011, worldwide, 12 new hydrogen fueling stations have been opened. This brought the total number of in-service gas stations on 215. This is the result of the fourth annual evaluation of H2stations.org, a website of the Ludwig-Bolkow-Systemtechnik (LBST), and by TÜV SÜD. An additional 122 stations are worldwide in planning.”
Using the same resource, I’ve updated my European Union Hydrogen Highway page, which I hadn’t done since September 2008 and found a few pretty amazing statistics when doing so. For instance, in 2008, both the U. S. and European Union had about 60 hydrogen stations each that were either opened or planned for the near future.
As of February 2012, the European Union now has 143 hydrogen fueling stations either opened or planned and the U. S. has around 128. Some of the largest gainers in Europe were the UK (from 2 – 20 stations), Germany (from 32 to 41 stations), Italy (from 5 – 21 stations), plus Turkey sprouted up 3 and Finland 2 stations which weren’t even on the map before.
While the U. S. has made headway on the East Coast, West Coast, Texas and Hawaii, not much development has taken place in the middle states. On the other hand, the European countries have done an admirable job in building strategically located stations that will mean ease of travel among countries for those who are driving hydrogen cars in the next few years.
The U. S. is beating the Europeans when it comes to one thing however and that is the building of hydrogen-powered forklifts and palette trucks for use in large warehouse settings. So, sometimes when it seems like no progress is being made, just take a look back a few years to see where we were then compared to where we are now. I can’t wait to see what the next 4 years brings us.
Even if you adopt a policy or stgetary you can only implement it so fast Electric cars can’t get here fast enough for me, I’m tired of dealing with the Middle East and all their religious problems, That to me that is the real obstical to stabilazation. If you took the actual dollars invested in wars donations and diplomacy we could give the Big three 5 Trillion dollars to develop Electric cars and give one to every man woman and child in the U.S , Revive our own economy and cut the phone line that runs under the sea to the middle east and have money to spare, Since the industrial revolution began we thrived by producing and consuming our own goods, Then for no reason starting about 30 years ago The propagandists told us there is no way we can survive without globalization, THATS A LIE AND IT’S DESTROYING THE UNITED STATES, We need to revive manufacturing in the United States quit outsourcing and build our own country again.