No previous year has seen as many new hydrogen stations as 2016. According to H2stations.org, 92 new hydrogen refuelling stations have opened throughout the world last year. 83 of the 92 newly opened stations are public accessible. The others are dedicated to refuelling of buses or fleet customers.
Top of the list is again Japan with 45 new stations. In North America 25 stations were inaugurated, 20 of them in California. In Europe, 22 stations have opened, thereof 6 in Germany, increasing the number of public hydrogen refuelling stations there to 22. A further 29 German stations are under construction or will be commissioned soon, surpassing the USA with 24 stations under construction. Worldwide, sites for 90 upcoming stations have already been announced.
As of January 2017, the total number of hydrogen refuelling stations in operation is 274 including four opened at the beginning of this year.
Based on information collected by LBST (Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik), a total of 106 hydrogen refuelling stations are currently operating in Europe, 101 in Asia, 64 in North America, two in South America, and one in Australia. 188 stations are publicly accessible like any conventional retail station, representing 2/3 of all stations globally. Last year several older stations originating from limited demonstration projects were replaced by modern public stations, showing the increasing commercialisation of the hydrogen infrastructure.
