Hydrogen fuel pump now online

First location in Ventura County



FILL ’ER UP—A new hydrogen fueling station is in operation at the 76 gas station on Thousand Oaks Boulevard at Hampshire Road. It’s the 33rd hydrogen pump in the state and thefirst in the county. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

FILL ’ER UP—A new hydrogen fueling station is in operation at the 76 gas station on Thousand Oaks Boulevard at Hampshire Road. It’s the 33rd hydrogen pump in the state and the first in the county. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

Thousand Oaks recently became home to the only retail hydrogen fueling station in Ventura County and the 33rd in the state.

The bright blue pump—located at a 76 station just north of the 101 Freeway at Hampshire Road— will operate 24 hours a day. It began filling up fuel cell electric vehicles March 30.

Shane Stephens, chief development officer of First Element Fuel, which owns the pump, said April 4 that the station had seen 45 cars since it went online, about seven per day.

“That’s better than we expected,” he said.

Unlike gasoline, hydrogen is measured in kilograms, not gallons. Currently, a kilogram of H35 hydrogen fuel—equivalent to a gallon of gas—at the T.O. station costs $16.43, so a fill-up is around $80 considering the average tanks hold around 5 kilograms.

At that price, the operating cost of the cars is around 20 cents per mile, as opposed to the 13-cents per mile cost of operating the average gas-driven automobile. But most drivers with hydrogen cars aren’t paying for their own fuel.

Honda, which makes the Clarity, one of the three hydrogen fuel cell vehicles currently on the road, typically throws in $15,000 worth of hydrogen, good for around 70,000 miles or more, with every new lease. Toyota offers similar deals for its Mirari, which has a much higher sticker price than the Clarity, around $58,000 compared to $33,000 for the Honda.

According to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, which helped get the station up and running in Thousand Oaks, the price of hydrogen is projected to fall below $10 per kilogram by the year 2025, bringing the operating cost of hydrogen vehicles down to 12 cents per mile.

Grahame Watts, special projects manager for the City of Thousand Oaks, said the pump further solidifies T.O. as a prime market for alternative-fuel vehicles.

“Whether it’s fuel cell, pure electric or hybrid, we are the target audience,” Watts said.

He said California is making a big investment in the hydrogen fuel cell market by offering millions of dollars’ worth of grants to private companies like First Element looking to build the infrastructure to support the growing number of alternative-fuel vehicles on the road.

Though the T.O. station is just the 33rd retail location in the state, many more are in the immediate pipeline, he said.

“Hydrogen infrastructure is exploding statewide,” Watts said.

CFCP is working with First Element as well as Honda and Toyota to create a network of fueling stations up and down California; their goal is to have 100 stations up and running within the next five years.

The hydrogen pump nearest to Thousand Oaks is in Woodland Hills. For drivers headed north of Los Angeles, T.O. is the final opportunity to fill up before reaching Santa Barbara.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars release zero emissions and travel faster and farther than standard electric vehicles, as many as 300 miles on a full tank.

But the biggest advantage with hydrogen-powered cars is they take the same amount of time to fill up as a gas-powered vehicle, about three to five minutes, compared to strictly electrical cars that can take 30 minutes or more to charge.

There are an estimated 3,000 fuel cell vehicles on the road in California, but a recent report by Information Trends predicted that by 2032 more than 20 million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be sold worldwide.

“These stations are popping up everywhere now,” Watts said. “I stopped by the (Thousand Oaks) station the day it opened and they had a car fueling there. These vehicles are readily available.”

But environmental advocate R.L. Miller of Oak Park was less enthused, saying the hydrogen market has fallen far behind conventional electric. On Twitter she said the Acorn should park a reporter at the pump to see how often it’s used.

“I bet that hydrogen station would be sad and lonely. While Tesla drivers/shoppers get stuff done (and spend local money) at the Promenade,” she tweeted.

Miller said, “Hydrogen folk have been doing nothing but talk for 10-15 years, both cars and chargers.”

Hydrogen at the 76 station is trucked in and stored in a tank lined with Kevlar.

Unlike propane, if hydrogen escapes into the air, it’s quickly absorbed into the atmosphere and presents no risk.

To learn more about fuel cell vehicles, go to cafcp.org.