The evolution to a national organization comes at the same time as the Partnership’s initiation of a new national hydrogen mobility strategy. Seeking to accelerate the expansion of national hydrogen production and distribution to support heavy-duty trucking and light-duty rollout across the United States, the strategy will enable the necessary links between ports, key commercial and urban centers, and hydrogen hubs across the United States and ideally, North America. The strategy will leverage the organization’s earlier roadmaps and visions for cars and heavy-duty trucks, as well as national laboratory and state transportation models. In addition, it draws upon California’s policy and investment experience that launched the first retail zero-emission vehicle market in the world and identified achievable steps to a self-sustaining fueling network.
“When the Partnership published its first roadmap outlining how California could launch the world's first fuel cell car market, there were no retail stations or vehicles available. Many questioned if stakeholders could pull off such a feat,” said Bill Elrick, executive director of HFCP. “A decade later, with increasing global recognition of the importance of hydrogen in achieving our zero-emission vehicle and renewable energy objectives, we are more certain that this is a necessary and achievable objective. Hydrogen is no longer a question of ‘if’; rather, it is one of ‘who leads and where first’?”