British Columbia Hydrogen Highway - Venue for Hydrogen Vehicle Road Rally

A hydrogen fuelled vehicle road rally from Vancouver to Whistler and back was held on March 29 and 30, 2006 in conjunction with Globe 2006. Organized by Powertech Laboratories, the rally featured seven hydrogen fuelled vehicles including a Ford Focus Fuel Cell Vehicle and a General Motors internal combustion engine pick-up truck fuelled with a gasoline/hydrogen blend.

The Ford Focus was one of the five vehicles that have been operating in the Vancouver and Victoria area since April 1, 2005 and the GM-1500 pick-up truck is a prototype that has been modified by the Saskatchewan Research Council to operate on blended gasoline and hydrogen fuel. The development and demonstration of both these vehicles is being funded by NRCan's Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance (CTFCA) program managed by HyFATE. Fuelling support for the vehicles was provided by a mobile fuelling trailer developed by Powertech Laboratories, also with funding support from the CTFCA.

The British Columbia Hydrogen Highway will be a series of at least seven hydrogen production and refuelling facilities linking Victoria to Vancouver and then on to Whistler in time for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. These stations will service the two hundred or more hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen internal combustion engine cars and buses expected to be on the road in the area by that time. Three of the fuelling stations are now operational, another is under construction, and the other three are in various stages of development. The CTFCA is funding the management of the British Columbia Hydrogen Highway through Fuel Cells Canada, and provides funding support for the development and demonstration of the numerous individual projects that are part of it.