Hyundai has announced plans to transform an existing hydrogen refueling station in California into a cutting edge renewable fueling station.
The station will be built on the site of an existing hydrogen station at Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. in Chino, California.
The original station was constructed in 2005 to supply hydrogen for Hyundai's fuel cell development vehicles.
A $3 million California Energy Commission grant to Hyundai's partner Hydrogen Frontier Inc. will go towards the rebuilding project, which aims to produce at least 100 kilograms of hydrogen per day--enough to fill 6,000-9,000 fuel cell vehicles annually.
Running of the station itself, plus production of the hydrogen, will be 100 percent renewable. The energy used to make the hydrogen will be bought in from a renewable energy provider, though the site will be able to generate its own hydrogen using electrolysis.
Hyundai has been developing fuel cell cars since 2000, and currently culminates with the latest Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell vehicle which entered production at the start of 2013.
The company is currently investigating potential demand for the fuel cell Tucson in the U.S. market--and California, with its growing hydrogen infrastructure, is a likely recipient of any vehicles that go on sale, just as it has been for Honda's fuel cell projects.
The Chino facility is set for reopening in October 2014, at which point it will also open to the public. It's set to be the first publicly accessible hydrogen fueling station in San Bernardino County.
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