A hydrogen highway is a chain of hydrogen-equipped filling stations and other hydrogen infrastructure along a road or highway which would allow hydrogen powered cars to travel. It is an element of the hydrogen infrastructure that is generally assumed to be a pre-requisite for mass utilization of hydrogen cars. For instance, William Clay Ford Jr. has stated that infrastructure is one of three factors that hold back the marketability of fuel cell cars. Hence, there are plans and proposals to develop hydrogen highways through private and public funds. The use of hydrogen cars has been proposed as a means to reduce local air pollution and carbon emissions because hydrogen fuel cell cars emit clean exhaust. Hydrogen can be produced from natural gas, coal and renewable energy. However, as long as the majority of hydrogen continues to be produced by burning fossil fuels and transported in trucks, pollution is emitted by the hydrogen manufacturing process.
Japan
At the end of 2012 there were 17 private hydrogen stations. In 2014, Japan got its first commercial hydrogen fueling station. The Japanese government hoped to add up to 100 hydrogen stations under a budget of 460 million dollars covering 50% of the installation costs with the last ones intended to be operational in 2015. JX Energy planned to install 40 stations by 2015. and another 60 in the period 2016–2018 Toho Gas and Iwatani Corp planned to develop an additional 20 stations. Toyota Tsusho and Air Liquide formed a joint venture to build 2 hydrogen stations planned to be ready by 2015. By May 2017, there were 91 hydrogen fueling stations in Japan.
Europe
As of November 2014, there were 27 publicly available hydrogen fuel stations in operation in Western Europe. "That number is expected to climb to 47 stations , but considering that each new station costs around $1.3 million to build, the cost is pretty high for this buildout."
In Germany as of September 2013 there were 15 publicly available hydrogen fuel stations in operation. Most but not all of these stations were operated by partners of the Clean Energy Partnership. The German government had agreed to support an expansion of the stations nationwide to 50 by 2015, under a letter of intent, through its public private partnership Now GMBH program NIP with a subsidy of 20 Million Euros. The H2 Mobility initiative had stated that it wants to raise that number to 100 stations from 2015 to 2017 and to 400 stations in 2023 at a cost of €350 million Euros.
Italy
's first hydrogen highway is the Motorway of Brennero. It runs from Modena to Verona.
Scandinavia
The Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership is planned to link the three current hydrogen highways: HyNor, Hydrogen Sweden and Hydrogen Link Network. HyNor - In Norway, as of 2009, a 7 station hydrogen highway was planned from Oslo to Stavanger. In 2011, Statoil announced that they wanted to close their filling stations in Stavanger, Porsgrunn, Drammen and Oslo after 2012. A new company, HyOP, was established to take over the ownership and operation of the stations, and did so in May 2012. Hydrogen Sweden is the development of a hydrogen highway system in the western region of Sweden. The hydrogen link network is a planned 15 station Nordic Transportation Network that would serve to link Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany.
Spain
The first three Spanish fueling stations on the A-23 between Huesca and Zaragoza opened in 2010.
United States
In 2013, The New York Times reported that there were "10 hydrogen stations available to the public in the United States: one in Columbia, S.C., eight in Southern California and the one in Emeryville, California". In 2013 the Department of Energy launched H2USA focused on advancing the hydrogen infrastructure. In 2013 Governor Brown signed AB 8, a bill to fund $20 million a year for 10 years for up to 100 stations., there are 46 publicly accessible hydrogen refueling stations in the US, 41 of which are located in California.
Canada
In British Columbia, Canada, five fueling stations were built, one each in Whistler, at the University of British Columbia and in Burnaby, and two others that were later moved to Surrey. But aside from Whistler they are little-used. Reportedly, only three leased Ford fuel cell cars remain in Surrey, and there is a fleet of 20 hydrogen buses in Whistler. There are no official plans to build any more fuelling stations as the Hydrogen Highway project closed in 2011. The hydrogen bus experiment in Whistler ended in March 2014 due to high maintenance and fuel costs, the hydrogen fueling station there was dismantled, and diesel-powered buses replaced the hydrogen buses.
Safety and supply
Hydrogen fuel is hazardous because of the low ignition energy and high combustion energy of hydrogen, and because it tends to leak easily from tanks. Explosions at hydrogen filling stations have been reported. Hydrogen fuelling stations generally receive deliveries of hydrogen by truck from hydrogen suppliers. An interruption at a hydrogen supply facility can shut down multiple hydrogen fuelling stations.
