The second hydrogen filling station in the greater New York City area is now open for business with a third due to open later this month and one already operating there for a year.
The station is the first of a cluster to come from fuel giant Shell, which formed a partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the US Department of Energy and General Motors to open the forecourt at JFK International Airport. The third station will be located in the Bronx and has been developed with the New York City Department of Sanitation.
According to Duncan Macleod, Shell’s vice president of hydrogen, the prospects for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are strong in the long term and the first cluster represents an important step to build capabilities in retailing the fuel.
Shell currently buys the majority of its hydrogen from third parties although it does produce hydrogen from electricity on site in three of its stations – one in Santa Monica, CA, another in White Plains, NY and a third in Reykjavik, Iceland. At the moment it has six filling stations in collaboration with auto makers, universities and local authorities – these are situated in Tokyo, Reykjavik, Washington DC, Los Angeles, New York and Shanghai.
The three filling stations in New York will be within around 30 miles of each other.
