Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCEV)

A fuel cell electric vehicle carries hydrogen and converts it to electricity on board, driving an electric motor. The fuel cell is two to three times more efficient than a gasoline engine, and the exhaust is water vapor and warm air. Refueling behaves like a liquid fuel rather than like charging: three to five minutes at a retail dispenser, with roughly a gallon of gasoline’s energy in about 2.2 pounds of hydrogen.

For a public fleet the question is almost never the vehicle. It is whether there is anywhere to fill it. As of 2024 California had 54 retail hydrogen stations open to the public and Hawaii had one, with more than 20 in construction or planning, and the U.S. Department of Energy has selected seven Regional Hydrogen Hubs to extend fueling beyond California. Outside those areas an agency is contemplating building and operating its own station, which is a capital project rather than a vehicle purchase.

That is why hydrogen shows up in the public sector as transit buses and heavy-duty pilots rather than as a light-duty option. Where a fleet already plans a fueling facility, the fast fill and the range are genuine advantages over battery electric for vehicles that run long shifts; where it does not, the vehicles have nowhere to go.