Hydrogen stations in California

Catherine DunwoodyCalifornia Fuel Cell PartnershipOctober 23, 2013

From 1 to 100

California commitment• Governor Brown issues ZEV Executive

Order• CaFCP Roadmap establishes need for

68 to 100 H2 stations for FCEV market launch

• Governor’s Office issues ZEV Action Plan

• Governor Brown signs AB 8 to fund 100 H2 stations

Recently we celebrated the passage of AB 8 and the commitment of the State of California to fund at least 100 hydrogen stations to support market launch of fuel cell electric vehicles. This is a milestone we have been working toward for more than two years. It started with CaFCP developing A California Road Map, which established the need for a basic network of stations to provide coverage to five early market communities so that the first FCEV customers can get hydrogen fuel as conveniently as they get gasoline today. After Governor Brown issued his executive order calling for 1.5 million ZEVs in California by 2025, we worked to ensure the ZEV Action Plan included hydrogen and FCEVs in addition to plug in vehicles. We helped make the case for funding hydrogen stations through AB 8. Now the pieces are in place to implement the network and launch vehicles. A lot has happened in two years. But we started much earlier with the first station in West Sacramento in 2000. Because many of you are technology experts, I thought you’d enjoy this is the story of getting from 1 to 100 stations in California.

Station #1 – “WSS”

CaFCP’s WSS (West Sacramento Station) was built in 2000 and jointly owned and operated by four oil companies along with industrial gas companies. It was designed to fuel cars from eight automakers who had operations in our West Sacramento facility at that time. Because it fueled cars from all automakers, It became a proving ground for many of the technologies and practices we see in hydrogen stations today.

What’s an MPa?

In 2000, no one had fueled a car at 5000 psi in California. Hyundai conducted the first 5000 psi fill in West Sacramento. We even ran a contest to encourage a nozzle manufacturer to obtain TUV certification. Today all new California stations are built with both 35 and 70 MPa dispensers with TUV certified nozzles built to SAE J2600.

Fill ‘er up

We had to use Nomex coats and goggles to fuel at our station because our dispensers were built before NFPA 55 was issued. Users were required to attend a two-hour training program. We used the station to train first responders in Sacramento and expanded the program statewide as more stations were built. Today we do not need PPE and are poised to transition to a national emergency responder training template to promote consistent training nationwide.

Just a sample, please

Station Testing Apparatus

Hydrogen Quality Sampling Adaptor

California was the first state to adopt a hydrogen quality standard in 2008. Data collected with the HQSA at CaFCP’s WSS was essential to defining the constituent limits and test procedures in a time before SAE J2719 was adopted. This year DMS modified the regulations to require hydrogen to meet SAE J2719, and these rules go into effect in January 2014.

CaFCP developed a Station Testing Apparatus in 2004 and used the device to enable collaborative development of fueling protocols at the WSS. Today DMS and NREL have developed a testing apparatus that will be used to field test and type certify dispensers to meet NIST Handbook 44 accuracy requirements plus three additional accuracy classes that DMS will soon propose to enable dispensers to be certified during the early market.

New NREL apparatus

Say “hydrogen”

Over the years, we have shown off the WSS to many people around the world. We’ve assured them this is not what they will find at their corner gas station. We created an online app so that FCEV drivers can easily find a station and know whether there is fuel available before arriving. We learned what consumers look for in a fuel station—lighting, canopies, restrooms and the ability to wash their windshield (we added a windshield washer when we opened the WSS to fleet drivers in 2010). Over the years our members became increasingly oriented toward thinking about what the customer wants, and making sure they have a very positive fueling experience.

Location, location, location

The early stations were built in private locations. We thought stand-alone stations would be the future. Not so. Today most hydrogen stations in California are located at retail fuel stations. CA has about 12,000 gas stations statewide. So how many of them would need to sell hydrogen? This question led us to research how and where people get fuel. The result was the CA Roadmap, that calls for stations placed to provide coverage for early customers.

BurbankTorranceNewport BeachIrvineFountain ValleyWest LAThousand PalmsHarbor City

Beverly HillsDiamond Bar (upgrade)HawthorneHermosa BeachIrvine (upgrade)Irvine NorthSan Juan CapistranoLos Angeles Santa MonicaWest LAWestwood

AnaheimChinoMission ViejoWoodland Hills

Open

In Development

Funded in 2013

Targets areas for future funding

Today most of our public stations in California are located in Southern California, and many more are in development. You can keep track of our progress by visiting our station map located on our website. www.cafcp.org/stationmap

Southern CAPublic Hydrogen Stations

Emeryville

West Sacramento

CupertinoFoster CityMountain View

Open

In Development

Funded in 2013

Target areas for future funding

Northern CAPublic Hydrogen Stations

August 2013

We have one station, Emeryville, open and three funded in the San Francisco Bay Area today. We have a lot more stations to build in Northern California to fulfill the Roadmap goals.You’ll notice West Sacramento is on this list – that’s because we will have a new, modern hydrogen station in an existing gas station.

Goodbye WSS

This month we closed the WSS. It has provided thousands of fills to cars, buses, forklifts and even the FC mobile light tower. It filled the original Mercedes NeCar and Honda FCX, and filled the Mercedes B-Class F-CELL and Honda FCX Clarity.

It’s a little sad to see the station go. I’ll miss hearing the burp of the liquid hydrogen tank and the roar of the big, blue compressor. We won’t have people ringing our doorbell to get in the back to fuel. No more vapor cloud that makes our parking lot look like a spooky movie when the delivery truck fills the tank. We’ll miss seeing the block of ice that forms on the pipes near the liquid H2 tanks, and the little birds that nest above the pipes to escape Sacramento’s hot days. However…

FCEV market launch: 2015-2017

It is joyful to know that our station paved the way for 100 stations to come to California communities so we can support the market launch of FCEVs—including our new station that will have so many more capabilities. We’ve come to expect a lot more from hydrogen stations, because we know the customers who buy and lease these cars will expect a convenient, reliable and safe fueling experience.

Implementing the Road MapWe have a lot to accomplish in California in the coming years. We have nine public stations currently operating and nineteen other projects in various stages of development. With additional funding to upgrade some existing demonstration stations, we are about half way to our goal. It will take a strong group of stakeholders to get there. We will need the support of communities and city government who are learning about new technologies and fuels. Businesses who sell fuel today and are willing to invest in something new. Automakers who are bringing FCEVs to market. And it will take leadership from the highest levels of state government to convey the importance of hydrogen to California’s future.

We have the tools in place to get it done, and we can thank our old friend the West Sacramento Station for 13 years of hard work to help us get there.

MembersAir LiquideAir ProductsAlameda-Contra Costa Transit

District (AC Transit)Automotive Fuel Cell CooperationBallard Power SystemsCalifornia Air Resources BoardCalifornia Department of Food and

AgricultureCalifornia Energy CommissionCalifornia State University-Los

AngelesCenter for Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Technologies (CEERT)

ChryslerDaimlerEnergy Independence NowGeneral MotorsHondaHydrogenics

HyundaiInstitute of Transportation Studies, UC

DavisLinde North America, Inc.National Fuel Cell Research Center, UC

IrvineNational Renewable Energy Laboratory

(NREL)NissanPowertech LabsProton OnSiteSandia National LaboratoriesSouth Coast Air Quality Management

DistrictSouthern California Gas CompanySunLine Transit AgencyToyotaU.S. Department of EnergyU.S. Department of TransportationU.S. Environmental Protection AgencyU.S. HybridVolkswagen

www.cafcp.org