Drivers are seeing more hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) on the road, but refueling stations for those vehicles are still few and far between. This is about to change, and one reason is a new testing device being validated at California refueling stations that will greatly accelerate station commissioning.
Developed by U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Hydrogen Station Equipment Performance device, or HyStEP, could reduce the time to commission new stations from months to just one week. HyStEP is funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office as part of the Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Research and Station Technology (H2FIRST) project.
Drivers are seeing more hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) on the road, but refueling stations for those vehicles are still few and far between. This is about to change, and one reason is a new testing device being validated at California refueling stations that will greatly accelerate station commissioning.
Developed by U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Hydrogen Station Equipment Performance device, or HyStEP, could reduce the time to commission new stations from months to just one week. HyStEP is funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office as part of the Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Research and Station Technology (H2FIRST) project.
“Industry stakeholders identified station commissioning as a challenge that the national laboratories have the resources to address,” said Joe Pratt, the Sandia H2FIRST project lead. Sandia and NREL contracted with Powertech Labs to build the HyStEP device.
As zero-emission vehicles, FCEVs are leading the revolution in clean energy personal transportation. And California is leading the nation, with the most FCEVs on the road of any state and plans to open 35 new retail hydrogen stations by the end of 2016.
Sandia and NREL’s work on H2FIRST and in enabling modern codes and standards for the design, construction and operation of hydrogen refueling stations is helping drive that momentum.
Toyota fuel cell vehicle image via Shuttertsock.
Read more at Sandia Labs.
