The state committed more than $250 million toward building out a network of stations for hydrogen fuel cell cars. It’s not going great.
As California’s longtime chief climate regulator, Mary Nichols once championed hydrogen fuel cell cars. Just a few years ago, as the state spent tens of millions of dollars on a planned network of fueling stations dubbed “the hydrogen highway,” Nichols was extolling the 300-mile range and quick refueling time of her own hydrogen ride, a futuristic Toyota Mirai.
“It’s clear what technology has won in the marketplace,” says David Reichmuth, a senior engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists’ clean transportation program. “If we want to go as fast as possible to decarbonize, then the plug-in electric vehicle is clearly the technology with the infrastructure available to do that now.”
By contrast, California boasts just over 105,000 charging stations for plug-in vehicles. Battery-electric models accounted for 21% of new car sales in the state last year and Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 were California’s top two best-selling vehicles. Complaints about fuel prices are just as common. Filling up a Mirai, a Hyundai Nexo or a Honda FCX Clarity runs a California driver about $200 — the equivalent of paying $14.60 for a gallon of gas.
“We went right through our card,” she says. “Hydrogen was double the price of gas and we weren’t going to go back to gas.” Other carmakers are also hedging their bets with hydrogen. Hyundai sells the Nexo SUV, which debuted in the US in late 2018 and now boasts up to 380 miles of range. But the carmaker moved only a few hundred of them in California last year. Hyundai declined to make an executive available to discuss its hydrogen strategy.
But deep discounts on fuel cell cars tell a different demand story. In March, Toyota offered up to $40,000 cash back on a new $49,500 2023 Mirai Limited, a lower-range model, plus 0% financing. Over at a Hyundai dealership, you could pick up a new $63,585 Nexo for $28,585 and pay no interest. At one San Francisco Toyota dealership, a used 2020 Mirai could be had for about $12,000.
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