ENVIRONMENT

Lawmakers strike $106 million deal for fueling hydrogen cars, trucks — even though hardly anyone drives one

BY ALEJANDRO LAZO
SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

IN SUMMARY

Hydrogen fueling stations will get 15% of funds in a state program — even though Californians own only about 12,000 hydrogen cars. The funds come from fees paid by car owners.

California lawmakers have reached a deal that would set aside 15% of funds from a billion-dollar climate program to help companies build fueling stations for hydrogen cars and trucks. ... After months of debate, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, a Democrat from San Bernardino, said legislative leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed on a compromise for the funding. An estimated $106 million will be spent on new hydrogen fueling stations through July 2030, according to the California Hydrogen Coalition.

The state Senate and Assembly are expected to vote on the deal tonight as part of a bill that reauthorizes fees for the Clean Transportation Program, which funds infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles. The fees are paid by car owners —$2 car registration fees and $4 smog abatement fees. ... The 15% carveout comes even though hardly anyone drives fuel cell vehicles powered by hydrogen: Californians own only about 12,000 of them, about 1% of the 1.1 million zero-emission vehicles on the road today. ... Only two hydrogen models are currently being sold in dealerships, the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo, and sales are sluggish. Many major automakers have said they plan to produce only battery-powered cars. ... The new stations also would be available for medium- and heavy-duty trucks powered by hydrogen. But some experts say electric trucks are competing heavily for that segment, so the future market for hydrogen fueling stations is uncertain.

Teresa Cooke, executive director of the California Hydrogen Coalition, called the deal a win. The lobbying group for hydrogen supporters and suppliers — which includes Chevron, Shell and Toyota — originally sought nearly three times the amount they will now receive: They wanted about $300 million to create a statewide network of 1,000 fueling stations, which they said would encourage more people to purchase the zero-emission cars. ... “It’s just the beginning, though, and now we have a lot more work to do with this technology and within this policy area,” Cooke said.

A Newsom spokesman said the governor supports the funding agreement. “This is a big deal in the fight against climate change. It’ll help build more electric vehicle chargers and hydrogen fueling stations, improve their accessibility and reliability, and cut air pollution,” said Alex Stack. “Governor Newsom looks forward to it reaching his desk.” ... But Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley Law, told CalMatters that the set-aside is “largely a waste of money” for an “industry that has not proved itself after well over a decade of subsidy in California.” ... Elkind added that while the state may have more hydrogen trucks in the future, there is “a much more immediate need to scale up chargers for electric trucks, which the state is really behind on deploying.” ... “It’s too bad the Legislature had to make this compromise with hydrogen interests,” Elkind told CalMatters, “but that’s the nature of the sausage-making.”

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