The first open access hydrogen vehicle refueling station in the UK launched at Honda’s plant in Swindon.

The station is available for to anyone developing or using hydrogen-powered vehicles. It can fill vehicles at both 350 bar and 700 bar, the two standard filling pressures adopted by the world’s major vehicle manufacturers. The reason they built it at Honda’s facility is because they are currently the only manufacturer with a fuel cell vehicle in the lineup. Hyundai by the looks of things is going to be the next.

Creating the the infrastructure for delivering H2 to the pumps has always been considered as the main obstacle in the development of Hydrogen cars. With this project the first step to solve the issue has been taken.

Fuel cell cars are much more relevant than EVs, because you don’t need to plug them in and wait long hours for it to recharge. You just fill them up, as you would with a petrol-powered car, which takes no longer than five minutes.

Another feature is the design: it looks just like a conventional filling station and the time to fill a vehicle is comparable with conventional fuels. The Honda FCX Clarity, for example, takes less than five minutes. For the consumer, then, the experience should be very similar to refuelling at a normal petrol station.