Honda opens UK's first public hydrogen fuelling station

(Honda)

Honda has opened the first open-access hydrogen refuelling station in Great Britain.

The gas station, which provides hydrogen for vehicles in a similar manner to traditional gasoline stations, is open to anybody and provides the right filling pressures for vehicles from all of the world's major manufacturers.

Honda says that filling hydrogen powered vehicles such as the Honda FCX Clarity using the station will take a similar amount of time to conventional refuelling, with enough hydrogen on hand to ensure that vehicles can be refuelled one after another.

The refuelling station is based in Swindon, although Honda says that it hopes that the facility will be replicated across the country.

The move comes one week after a report from Pike Research noted the poor availability of natural gas refuelling points, claiming that a lack of infrastructure is likely to significantly impede consumer uptake of natural gas powered vehicles.

Although it remains to be seen how Honda's hydrogen plans will play out, Nissan confirmed this week that it still has electric charging infrastructure firmly in its sights, announcing a major tie-up with manufacturers to facilitate the sale of charging stations.

The deal, announced September 20, should see the price of quick chargers, capable of recharging an EV to 80 percent capacity in less than 30 mins, fall by over half within a year, Nissan said.

As a result, the Japanese automaker predicts a boom in the number of quick chargers, with thousands available across Europe by the end of 2012 and 'tens of thousands' by 2015.

http://www.honda.eu