The world’s first ever hydrogen filling station opened its doors to the general public yesterday. The filling station was originally opened for business four years ago, but has so far only been used by public buses.
Opening the filling station to private vehicles is part of a larger pilot project to introduce 40 hydrogen cars into Reykjavik by the end of 2009. The project is backed by the government, academics and some private firms and is being realised through the work of Icelandic New Energy.
Jon Bjorn Skulason, Icelandic New Energy’s general manager told Reuters news agency, “The future prospects for hydrogen are very bright. There is no other fuel in the world that fills the demands that fossil fuel fills today.”
Iceland aims to be completely independent of fossil fuels by 2050 and its use of geothermal energy and hydroelectric power have already put the country well on its way to achieving this target. However, personal transportation, which is heavily based on private cars, remains the biggest challenge.
The filling station was started as part of a different pilot project which introduced three hydrogen powered buses to Reykjavik. As of this week, it will also power 10 Toyota Prius hydrogen cars which were delivered to three companies in Iceland this week.
Members of the public and visitors to Iceland will be able to test out the new hydrogen cars as Hertz will be renting out three of the vehicles.