As construction begins on Australia's first public hydrogen refuelling station in Fyshwick, drivers of fuel-cell vehicle vehicles in San Francisco's Bay area are having to park up their vehicles after an explosion ripped through a supply factory.
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The California shortage, which left about 3000 drivers unable to refuel their fuel-cell vehicles, could flag concern in Canberra where by the end of this year, 20 government cars will only be able to run on hydrogen from just one local station.
Added to this issue is the mystery still surrounding the cause of an explosion at a hydrogen refuelling station in Norway a week ago. It caused such a strong explosive pulse that it deployed the airbags on a nearby car.
Two people suffered minor injuries in the explosion, which occurred at a service station in Oslo operated by Nel, Norway's largest public hydrogen refuelling company.
After the explosion, Nel shut down operations at all its hydrogen refuelling stations in Norway, Germany and Denmark.
The Norwegian site where the explosion occurred used a containerised, pressurised alkaline electrolyser that produces hydrogen in part from solar power.
Nel hasn't been able to determine the cause of the explosion and has engaged a specialist company Gexcon to investigate.
Preliminary findings from Gexcon confirm that neither the electrolyser nor the dispenser used by customers had anything to do with this incident.
Such is the public consternation around the Oslo explosion that Nel Hydrogen is running an online Q&A with updates on the investigation.
In California, Honda, Toyota and Hyundai are providing their affected customers with plug-in electric or conventional internal combustion cars while they wait for supply to return.
All three companies only lease hydrogen cars into the Californian market while the technology is being assessed.
Hyundai, which will be providing the 20 production-built Nexo premium sports utility vehicles to the ACT government for an as-yet-disclosed sum of money, issued a statement of "belief and confidence" in the new vehicle technology.
"Hyundai Motor is closely monitoring developments on the [Norway] investigation," the company said in a statement.
"Our belief and confidence on the safety and potential of hydrogen energy remain unaffected.
"We will continue to work closely with members of the hydrogen industry as well as governments around the world to ensure a safe hydrogen-powered society.
"Fuel cell electric vehicles have proven to be just as safe as conventional internal combustion vehicles, if not safer."
