Drivers in California’s Marin County rely on a single hydrogen fueling station.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergFew Stations and $200 to Fill Up: Life on California’s ‘Hydrogen Highway’
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 (480-kilometer) range and quick refueling time of her own hydrogen ride, a futuristic Toyota Mirai.
Today, though, Nichols drives a battery-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E. It too offers 300 miles of range. “I would have no problem driving a hydrogen car again but I don’t know that I would feel like I had to,” says Nichols, who served multiple terms as chair of the California Air Resources Board before stepping down in 2020. “Right now, I don’t think it would be a good bet to assume that there’s going to be a big shift to hydrogen vehicles except for heavy-duty trucks, where being able to move a lot of weight is important.”