Joint Agency Staff Report on Assembly Bill 8: 2019 Annual Assessment of Time and Cost Needed to Attain 100 Hydrogen Refueling Stations in California

The Joint Agency Staff Report on Assembly Bill 8: 2019 Annual Assessment of Time and Cost Needed to Attain 100 Hydrogen Refueling Stations in California is in accordance with Assembly Bill 8 (Perea, Chapter 401, Statutes of 2013), which requires the California Energy Commission and California Resources Board to “jointly review and report on progress toward establishing a hydrogen-fueling network that provides the coverage and capacity to fuel vehicles requiring hydrogen fuel that are being placed into operation in the state.” The 2019 Joint Report contains time and cost assessments for the network of publicly available hydrogen refueling stations to support the fuel cell electric vehicle market under the California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program, formerly known as Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.

As of December 27, 2019, California’s network of 43 open retail hydrogen refueling stations is capable of dispensing more than 11,800 kilograms of hydrogen each day, enough to support nearly 17,000 light-duty fuel cell electric vehicles with typical use of 0.7 kilograms per day per vehicle. Another 20 stations are in development to become open retail in California. The fueling capacity of this network, once all stations are open, will be nearly 24,500 kilograms per day, enough to support nearly 35,000 fuel cell electric vehicles. The network of these 63 stations meet nearly two-thirds of the Assembly Bill 8 goal of at least 100 publicly available hydrogen refueling stations.

California has nearly 7,000 fuel cell electric vehicles on its roads today, compared with 5,000 last year. Based on industry surveys, the California Air Resources Board projects there will be 48,000 fuel cell electric vehicles by 2025, which would cut global warming emissions by nearly 109,670 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in 2025.

The Clean Transportation Program has invested nearly $120 million since 2010 to fund hydrogen refueling stations to support the fuel cell electric vehicle market. The Clean Transportation Program will continue to allocate $20 million per year until there are at least 100 publicly available hydrogen refueling stations in California, per the requirements of Assembly Bill 8. These investments also support the goal of having 200 hydrogen stations by 2025, which was established by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Executive Order B-48-18.