SoCal hydrogen car owners expected to endure one more week of empty hydrogen fuel stations due to hydrogen supply shortage.

It’s been more than a week since Toyota Mirai and Honda Clarity owners started to notice that some of their hydrogen refueling stations weren’t being refilled at night but it’s only today that we have some sort of confirmation that there’s a problem. According to a Honda Clarity owner who wishes to remain anonymous, his inquiry addressing this problem to the California Fuel Cell Partnership was answered.

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As per CaFCP,

The supplier of hydrogen fuel, Air Products, had a partial failure of their Hydrogen supply assets in Southern California, which gravely impacted their ability to keep up with demand. It is our understanding that we should expect at least another week of Hydrogen Supply Shortage.

According to CaFCP.org, of the 35 hydrogen stations in California, as of this writing, 10 stations have no Hydrogen to dispense. Those stations are

  • Anaheim
  • Hollywood
  • Lake Forest
  • Newport Beach
  • Ontario
  • Playa Del Rey
  • San Ramon
  • San Juan Capistrano
  • UC Irvine
  • West Los Angeles

A tip from a True Zero station worker informed me that the following So Cal stations, including some not listed as empty above, would not be refueled within the next 24 hours. Those stations include

  • Costa Mesa
  • Hollywood
  • Lake Forest
  • Playa Del Rey
  • South Pasadena

In response to this Hydrogen shortage, Toyota is working with owners to get them into rental vehicles at their own cost and even offered to open their commercial Hydrogen refueling station at the Port of Long Beach for customers.

According to an e-mail sent out to Mirai owners,

“Toyota is aware that certain fuel cell vehicle owners in the Los Angeles area are currently experiencing refueling challenges because of limited hydrogen supply at several local fueling stations. While the station operator works to resolves this short-term issue, we are working with our Mirai customers to help identify alternative fueling options, including as a temporary measure, opening our commercial hydrogen fueling station at the Port of Long Beach.”

Honda, as per Clarity owners, at the moment, is not actively working with Clarity owners to assist them although they do have complimentary roadside assistance with unlimited miles.

As an aside, I contacted UC Irvine’s facilities to gain some insight on this situation and even THEY didn’t know what was going on over at Air Products.

It’s unfair to Hydrogen car owners and Hydrogen station managers to not get updates on a supply issue. Having to resort to a third-party, in this case, the California Fuel Cell Partnership, is unacceptable.

I’ve contacted Air Products for any kind of official statement and will update this post (or give y’all a new post) accordingly.

Hopefully, Air Products can give a plausible explanation as well as a list of remedies so this situation never happens again.

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