Average hydrogen fuel price at pump in US more than four times higher than in Japan and South Korea
Cost of filling vehicle with H2 has more than doubled in California since late 2021
SONY DSC . An Air Products hydrogen refuelling station in Pennsylvania, US.Photo: Air Products
The average price of hydrogen fuel at publicly accessible filling stations in California — the only US state that has them — is currently $32.94 per kilogram, according to analyst Platts.
This is more than four times higher than the average price of H2 fuel in both South Korea and Japan, which stand at $7.18/kg (according to Korea’s main H2 fuel website) and $7.71/kg (according to Platts), respectively.
It also almost double the standard pump price of H2 in Europe’s largest hydrogen fuel market, Germany, which stands €15.75 ($17.11) per kilo, according to local website H2.live (although some refuelling stations offer a price as low as €9.99 [$10.86]).
California has long been the most expensive place in the world for hydrogen fuel, and the current $32.94 average is actually slightly lower than its all-time high of $34.11 in February this year, which followed Shell’s permanent closure of six of its seven refuelling stations in the state.
The state also experienced significant disruption to its H2 fuel supplies last year due to a “major service disruption” in the supply of gaseous hydrogen.
A total of 424 hydrogen cars — mainly the Toyota Mirai — were sold in California between 1 October 2023 and 31 March 2024, down from 2,044 in the previous six months.
And the Californian state government has pared back subsidies for hydrogen refuelling stations to around $106m to 2030, after being warned of stranded assets.
Despite this, industrial gas giant Air Products has outlined plans for a new network of hydrogen refuelling stations running from the north to the south of the state, in addition to the six it already operates in the Los Angeles area.
Air Products may be banking on hydrogen playing a major role in heavy-duty fleet upgrades, after the state government last year passed a law banning diesel-powered trucks in California by 2042, with the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles already banned in many cases from January of this year.
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