How do hydrogen cars and fuelling stations work? The ...

Is hydrogen safe? 

Don&#;t worry, they&#;re quite safe and over the last couple of decades tanks have been exhaustively tested by crashing them, dropping them from a great height and even shooting at them with firearms. In the unlikely event they were to rupture the gas is lighter than air and vents away. In many ways its safer than petrol fumes which are heavier than air and sit at ground level when there&#;s a leak.

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Where can I buy one?

Now here&#;s the thing. Despite hydrogen fuel cell cars being under development for the last 25 years, the refuelling infrastructure to refuel them has been painfully slow in coming. It&#;s a chicken and egg thing, what comes first, the refuelling network or the cars?

Technically the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo are available in the UK but you need to be close to one of around 15 hydrogen stations (as of August , the number keeps changing as some open and some close). The few cars that are in the country are run by business organisations or fleets.

There are a few BMW iX5 Hydrogen models in the UK too, but they&#;re undergoing trials and not on sale. Still, you can buy or lease both the Toyota and the Nexo by contacting the manufacturers directly through their websites.

A Mirai comes in three trim levels, Design at £49,995, Design Plus at £53,995 and Design Premium at £64,995. A Design Plus model can also be leased and for a 3 year deal that costs £450 per month. The Nexo can be bought for around £70,000 or leased by contacting Hyundai. Both companies stress you must be within range of one of the scarce hydrogen stations to own one though.

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Will I ever be able to buy a hydrogen fuel cell car for a price I can afford? 

The technology behind fuel cell cars is quite grown-up now, but the lack of fuelling stations is the problem and they&#;re not likely to be around in numbers anytime soon. The Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Hub will open in the north east of England in backed by an £8 million grant to make hydrogen refuelling available and while the main aim is to supply delivery trucks, it could also supply cars. As the network of grows, we could see greater availability of hydrogen fuel cell cars but it&#;s likely to be a long time before you can walk into a car showroom and buy one like a battery electric car.

Where can I buy hydrogen and where is my nearest hydrogen filling station?

Even the most ardent hydrogen fan would admit that filling up is a challenge, and rather than expanding, there have been a number of closures in recent years. As a result there are just three hydrogen filling stations for cars in the whole of the UK currently (as of August ). The biggest is near Heathrow Airport, with the others in Sheffield and Aberdeen. Three more are planned in Glasgow, Stockton-on-Tees and Newport. 

Why aren't there more hydrogen filling stations?

For fuel cell cars to be truly usable you&#;d need about 400 UK-wide re-fuelling points, according to the Petrol Retailer&#;s Association - and they cost an eye watering £1m each at least. Many truck and bus operators are looking at fuel cells for their vehicles, and if hydrogen powered lorries, buses and coaches became commonplace, a network of filling stations would be needed for them. This could also serve cars, in theory.

Without the refuelling infrastructure, fuel cell cars won't become mainstream

No plugging, just pumping

Hydrogen-powered vehicles don&#;t need charging like an electric vehicle. You refuel them with hydrogen gas, pumped in the same safe and convenient way you would a conventional petrol or diesel car. Filling up takes the same amount of time too, between 3-5 minutes for a full tank.

There are over 100 Hydrogen fuelling stations operating in Europe already, and there are set to be more opening next year.

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