This will be the 42nd station added to the company’s refueling network.FirstElement Fuel (FEF) is rapidly expanding its network of hydrogen stations in California. In addition to announcing the public opening of its 41st retail H2 refueling station in Oakland, the company has broken ground on a new station in Redwood City, which will have 4 dispensers and become FEF’s 42nd station.
The newest H2 station opened to the public in Oakland uses FEF’s proprietary design.
The new hydrogen station that opened to the public in Oakland, is part of FEF’s True Zero hydrogen refueling network. It is its 41st station and the 9th high-output station installed and operated by FirstElement Fuel.
The station is equipped with four dispensers that can simultaneously provide H70 standard fills with a capacity of 1600 kilograms (kg) per day. This is about equal to refueling 450 hydrogen cars a day. According to FirstElement Fuel, this makes the station the highest-performing retail H2 station in the world.
Beyond the Redwood City station it currently has in the works, the company also has a multi-use heavy-duty truck H2 station near the Port of Oakland in development. It is known as the “Oakland Multi-Use Station”.
The multi-use heavy-duty truck hydrogen station will also use FEF’s proprietary design.
The Oakland Multi-Use Station is nearing completion. According to a recent news release about FEF’s newest stations, the multi-use station features a unique architecture that will yield 18,000 kg per day capacity. This is enough to refuel up to 200 heavy-duty trucks and 400 light-duty vehicles per day.
It will be the world’s first hydrogen station to deploy fast-fill components and protocols allowing for trucks to be filled with 80kg of hydrogen in less than 10 minutes. Additionally, the station is part of a public and private partnership in which 30 XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks will be supplied by Hyundai Motor Company, making it the largest deployment of Class 8 hydrogen fuel vehicles in the United States.
The Oakland Multi-Use station is part of a project called NorCAL ZERO. This project was jointly funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The project is being managed by the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE).
Once it is fully operational, the Oakland Multi-Use Station will be the world’s largest hydrogen station for refueling heavy-duty hydrogen trucks. It will be capable of handling heavy-duty, medium-duty, and light-duty vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel.
Hydrogen and the fight against global warming.
“The world faces many challenges today, but we are staying focused and disciplined about achieving our mission to accelerate access to hydrogen refueling,” said FirstElement Fuel Founder and CEO Joel Ewanick.
“Hydrogen-fueled transportation will ultimately play a huge role in fighting against the single biggest challenge the world faces, Global Warming,” Ewanick added.
