Joint Agency Staff Report on Assembly Bill 126: 2024 Annual Assessment of the Hydrogen Refueling Network in California

The Joint Agency Staff Report on Assembly Bill 126: 2024 Annual Assessment of the Hydrogen Refueling Network in California is in accordance with Assembly Bill 126 (Reyes, Chapter 319, Statutes of 2023). This bill required the California Energy Commission (CEC) and California Air Resources Board to jointly review and report on progress toward establishing a hydrogenfueling network that provides the coverage and capacity to fuel vehicles requiring hydrogen fuel that are being placed into operation in the state.

The CEC’s Clean Transportation Program has allocated nearly $234 million in public hydrogen infrastructure primarily for light-duty vehicles. This allocation reflects Shell’s cancelled agreement for 50 stations and one declined award. Through CEC’s funding and private investments, California is expected to have 129 hydrogen refueling stations by 2030 with at least 8 stations capable of fueling medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. As of November 4, 2024, 42 stations were open to the public, and 20 additional stations had been offline for more than 30 days, many for more than a year, for various reasons. These 20 offline stations are expected to reopen in the future. Since reported last year, three additional stations have opened.

The stations open to the public have operated at an average of 62 percent of capacity, due to maintenance, equipment failures, supply chain constraints, and hydrogen supply disruptions. Under current conditions, the network could serve about 36,000 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), more than double the fueling needs of the 14,415 light-duty FCEVs estimated to be on the road as of the end of the third quarter of 2024.

The CEC estimates 129 fully operational stations will have the capacity to serve nearly 195,000 light-duty FCEVs, which is nearly 10 times more than fuel demand from the projected lightduty FCEVs population in 2030. Auto manufacturers have reduced their FCEV deployment projections significantly to 18,400 FCEVs by 2027 and 20,500 FCEVs by 2030. CEC and CARB staffs intend to continue evaluating the fueling needs for the light duty FCEV market as it evolves.

The CEC has allocated nearly $120 million for hydrogen stations for public, private, and transit medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Combined with other public and private funding, California has 14 stations and an additional 35 stations planned for these vehicles.