Vehicle and fuel availability
A few tests of fuel cell vehicles are being carried out, but the technology is not yet commercially available. Automakers are investing billions of dollars to bring fuel cell vehicles to the consumer market, partly in preparation for new regulations in California, New York and Massachusetts that require that 10 percent of all vehicle sales be of zero-emission vehicles.
The Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance is demonstrating and evaluating fuelling options for fuel cell vehicles.
Fuel and refuelling
Hydrogen can be stored as a liquid at low temperatures, as a gas at high pressures, in a solid (metal hydride), or in a hydrogen carrier such as methanol.
A refuelling infrastructure will need to be established before fuel cell vehicles can be mass-produced. Fuel cells can be refuelled either with hydrogen directly or with a fuel that can be reformed to produce hydrogen, such as natural gas, methanol or gasoline. Reforming can be done at a hydrogen production plant, at a refuelling station or even on board a vehicle. Unless the fuel cell system is based on gasoline, considerable investment will likely have to be made to develop an infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles before any general market introduction.
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