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- California once bet big on clean hydrogen for cars and industry, but market turmoil, federal funding cuts and stalled projects have turned the promise into a “non moment.”
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turmoil → click → moment
- Hydrogen costs run about four times gasoline per mile.
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costs → run → mile
With state officials and industry wary of investing in hydrogen for transportation, fuel producers are placing hopes in the power sector, facing challenges from environmental groups.
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producers → invest → groups
Hydrogen, viewed by its advocates as a clean fuel and a solution to climate change, is having a “non moment,” but don’t ask anyone in the industry to say that on the record.
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Hydrogen → view → record
Years of market turmoil, federal funding cuts, canceled projects and industry pullback have made it clear: California’s grand vision for fleets of vehicles and heavy industry running on clean hydrogen fuel has stalled.
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vision → cancel → fuel
Yet at a recent gathering in Sacramento, those in the nascent industry continued to tout the potential of a fuel they hope will turn around and thrive.
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they → continue → fuel
Practically no one wanted to be quoted on the bleak outlook.
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one → want → outlook
“It’s tough,” said Andrew Carman, a hydrogen dealmaker at the conference who said there just aren’t enough buyers to justify much new fuel production.
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who → ’ → production
Hydrogen is an alternative to gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas that’s part of California’s climate strategy because it doesn’t produce greenhouse gas emissions when used.
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it → ’ → emissions
It can be made cleanly by cleaving the hydrogen out of water using clean electricity.
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It → make → electricity
But that’s not what usually happens.
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what → ’ → ?
Some 95% of hydrogen used today is made from natural gas.
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% → use → gas
That’s because freeing hydrogen from its bond with oxygen in water requires an extraordinary amount of energy — and expensive equipment — making it cost prohibitive.
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it → ’ → energy
Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger drove a Hummer powered by hydrogen, putting the fuel on the state’s map in 2004 with his vision of a 200-station “hydrogen highway.”
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Schwarzenegger → drive → highway
But as electric cars dropped in price and gained popularity, the highway has more or less been left for dead.
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highway → drop → popularity
“There was a race between batteries and hydrogen, and batteries won,” said Bill Magavern, policy director at the Coalition for Clean Air.
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Magavern → be → Air
There are some 14,000 hydrogen cars registered in California, and that number declined for the first time last year.
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number → be → time
In recent years, the state has pivoted toward hydrogen for buses, trucks and port equipment, but these too have struggled to get off the ground.
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these → pivot → ground
Carman said there are 400 or so hydrogen buses and trucks on the roads, and he has faith in new, smaller production plants and stations eventually opening to serve them.
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plants → say → them
He recently brokered a deal for a maker of water treatment chemicals in Pittsburg, Calif., to sell hydrogen, one of its byproducts, to transit agencies.
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maker → broker → agencies
But the state’s dream of a vast network of green fuel production sites and pipelines serving thousands of hydrogen-powered vehicles across California is a harder sell.
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dream → serve → California
“How do you get to that next scale?” asked Carman, who runs PACC Services.
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who → get → Services
“That’s not an easy problem to solve.”
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That → ’ → ?
Many environmental groups have long been skeptical even of the 1% of hydrogen that is produced cleanly — called green hydrogen.
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that → produce → hydrogen
They contend the costs and energy demands of producing and distributing it make it inferior to batteries in almost every case.
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it → contend → case
President Trump pulled the rug out from under ARCHES — a public-private partnership to create a green hydrogen economy in the state — when he canceled up to $2.2 billion in grants for West Coast hydrogen hubs in a politically motivated decision now being challenged in court.
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he → pull → court
He also cut short tax credits meant to bolster the industry.
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He → cut → industry
But even before that, projects to make zero and low-carbon hydrogen were being canceled across the country as they struggled to bring down costs.
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they → make → costs
“California’s hydrogen hype was already fading,” one analysis from BloombergNEF said, calling the West Coast industry “already dead.
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analysis → fade → industry
In California, hydrogen costs four times more per mile than gasoline, even with the latest increases in U.S. fuel prices, said Matthew Hodgkinson, an analyst at S&P Global Energy.
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Hodgkinson → cost → Energy
With a couple of exceptions, vehicle manufacturers, fleet owners and transit agencies are hesitant to invest in hydrogen products when they don’t know whether the fuel and filling stations will be there.
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stations → invest → products
The state is reluctant to fill the void left by federal funding after a series of bankruptcies and cancellations left only one truck maker and one bus maker selling hydrogen vehicles in North America.
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series → fill → America
“It’s a bit of a chicken and an egg thing,” state Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin said.
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Omishakin → ’ → thing
“Are we going to be building a bunch of stations when there are no vehicles?”
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we → go → stations
Meanwhile, stations cost millions to build and owners have trouble getting reliable fuel deliveries.
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owners → cost → deliveries
The network has still not recovered from a deadly hydrogen trailer explosion in Colton in February that knocked out over half of its supply.
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that → recover → supply
Industry is feeling the fuel squeeze.
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Industry → feel → squeeze
“These very expensive and very attractive pieces of equipment are not operating,” said Michael Galvin, who oversees the Port of Los Angeles’ energy business, as he showed photos of state-of-the-art cargo-handling gear sitting idle for lack of fuel.
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he → operate → fuel
“I would not recommend going deeply into hydrogen today,” said Derek Toups, deputy planning director of a small transit agency in Santa Cruz, when asked directly on a panel.
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Toups → recommend → panel
With its 20 hydrogen buses on the roads, Santa Cruz Metro is committed to the technology, he said, but the funding landscape has changed drastically.
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landscape → commit → technology
…and 15 more, not listed.
