October 8th is National Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Day every year now since the 114th U. S. Congress made a unanimous declaration pushing this day into existence on September 28, 2015.
My website went live in late 2005 and I published my first blog post about hydrogen and fuel cells on April 05, 2006. In 2006, I also had the pleasure of driving my first hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at the NHA Annual Hydrogen Conference at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California.
Above is a photo of the Audi A2H2 (a fast driving fuel cell vehicle) that I had the privilege to drive at this event.
For over more than a decade I’ve had the honor of driving over a dozen different makes and models of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (many of them several times). I’ve also been happy to research and write about this emerging industry as well (1,700+ pages and counting).
Fast forward to today. Over the past few of weeks, I’ve spotted a couple of different commercial Toyota Mirai fuel cell vehicles, out and about in two different locations in Southern California (Huntington Beach and Brea, CA respectively – pictured below).
The hydrogen car industry has come a long way since its humble beginnings. And yes, we still have a long way to go. But, hydrogen cars are rolling out commercially and people are buying them. And this is just the start of this worldwide phenomenon.
So, yes, I feel very thankful to be a part of this on this National Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Day 2017. And I am also inspired by the work that still needs to be accomplished until hydrogen cars, fuel cell vehicles and the emerging infrastructure will be considered “mainstream.”
Today, I would like to thank a couple of people who have contributed greatly to this hydrogen car, vehicle and infrastructure blog. First, I would like to thank Stan Thompson, who over a decade ago coined the term “hydrail” for hydrogen railway trains. Stan has contributed his insight and wisdom to this blog plus he’s created a whole new industry by hosting 12 international hydrail conferences worldwide.
Second, I would like to thank automotive writer extraordinaire George Wand. George has brought decades of his own experience to this blog in writing about the history of hydrogen cars, an important section which I, myself, have underserved.
So many thanks to both Stan and George for their outstanding efforts in bringing forth knowledge and insight about the hydrogen and fuel cell transportation industries to the readers of this blog and the public at large.
Thanks also to the many organizations (see reference below) who have made this day a reality.
And thank you readers of this website (several thousand per day) who continue to inspire and aspire to a cleaner, greener and self-sufficient future.
References
http://hydrogenandfuelcellday.org/
https://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/fuel-cell-technologies-office-newsletter-september-2015
https://cafcp.org/blog/celebrate-national-hydrogen-and-fuel-day-cafcp
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53ab1feee4b0bef0179a1563/t/59d7d9e60abd04a436acd8f5/1507318247452/Senate+Declares+3rd+Annual+Hydrogen+Day.pdf – FCHEA.org announcement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hydrogen_and_Fuel_Cell_Day