The old joke about hydrogen cars is that they are always 10 years away. But, the naysayers have nothing to joke about anymore.
In the past few years, Honda and Daimler have leased their hydrogen cars to consumers and fleets. In June 2014, Hyundai introduced the first production line H2 vehicle to be sold through a dealership in the United States.
The Hyundai Tustin dealership in Orange County, California was the first to lease one of these vehicles to Mr. Tim Bush and family. Bush is a St. Farm agent in Newport Beach, California. I was there for this event and took this photo at the top of this post. And, yes, these ix35 Hyundai hydrogen cars look just like regular vehicles – until you look under the hood that is.
And, so, this is just the beginning. In December 2014, Toyota is expected to start production on their commercial fuel cell vehicle. The other major car companies are soon to follow after that.
So, what is the future for hydrogen cars say 5 or 10 years down the road? It’s anyone’s guess, but as long as the building of cars and supporting infrastructure take place in parallel, then the future is bright for this long range EV.