Hydrogen Fueling Station Opens In Richmond, California, in October
NHA Home • NHA News Index

By Jaimie Levin, Director of Marketing and Communications, AC Transit

San Francisco, California, opened the area’s first hydrogen fueling station on 30 October 2002. The station also serves as the California Fuel Cell Partnership’s (CaFCP) first satellite station.

Stuart Energy, AC Transit, and the CaFCP unveiled their hydrogen fueling station in the community of Richmond, California, before a crowd of 200 people, including Congressman George Miller, middle and high school science students, and local officials.

The station utilizes an electrolyzer system manufactured and installed by Stuart Energy Systems of Ontario, Canada. CaFCP members contributed to the project, which will serve automotive companies involved in the partnership.

The station has a storage capacity of 47 kilograms of hydrogen and is capable of supplying the daily fueling needs of a small fleet of vehicles at a fueling rate of one to two minutes per vehicle. The AC Transit bus facility in Richmond, California, is about 70 miles from the CaFCP refueling station in Sacramento. This represents the first of several planned satellite refueling stations for the CaFCP and is an important part of the partnership’s continued effort to gain experiences and develop infrastructure necessary to bring the vehicles to market.

The Mayor of Richmond, Irma Anderson, fueled the Ford car and Congressman George Miller fueled the Hyundai SUV. This was significant because it demonstrated that the technology is user friendly and has progressed to the point where nontechnical people can do the fueling. A total of four cars were refueled during the dedication, one each from Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, and DaimlerChrysler.

The event was hosted by Rick Fernandez, General Manager of AC Transit, with the following speakers: Congressman George Miller; Mayor Irma Anderson; Costa County Supervisors John Gioia and Mark DeSaulnier; Don Huberts, Shell Hydrogen; Jon Slangerup, Stuart Energy; and Alan Lloyd, California Air Resources Board.

For more information on AC Transit and its activities, visit www.actransit.org. ©2002. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of the National Hydrogen Association.
This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

NHA Home • Return to NHA News Index