The Demo Site

Fueling up a fuel cell is simple. Fueling up the infrastructure is another thing entirely.

We've been hearing a lot about hydrogen-powered fuel cells as a viable power source for everyday vehicles, and we've even seen and driven a few early examples, including the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell and the Honda FCX Clarity, the latter being the world's first fuel-cell-equipped retail automobile. But one of the most common questions people end up asking is one that few people—journalists included—have the answer to: what is it like to "gas" up one of those things?

We decided, then, to ask Chevrolet to lend us one of the 100 or so Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles it has dedicated to its three-year "Project Driveway" market test, specifically in order to learn and practice the process of refueling the thing. We wanted to see how closely the process mirrors that of filling up a normal car, as well as what sort of adjustments are required.

Training Required

Chevrolet agreed, but only after submitting us to a two-hour, engineer-led training session in West Los Angeles at one of a handful of hydrogen refueling stations currently on line in Southern California. The course focused on the location of all such stations in Southern California, the pump pressure offered at each (which determines how much H2 it can cram into the tanks), a briefing on the Project Driveway program in general, and a walk-around of the Equinox Fuel Cell itself, which we recently covered in detail after driving it in New York. And of course, eventually they showed us how to actually connect all the hoses and fill 'er up. First, here's how to get hydrogen from pump to tank.

Keep Reading: Pump It Up: We Refuel a Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle