After Jeb Bush left office, Florida’s new governor Charlie Crist grabbed the renewable fuel baton. He cut the ribbon on the station in May 2007, and touted it as a way to wean the nation off foreign oil. A fleet of minibuses operated by the Orange County convention center was adapted to run on hydrogen supplied by the station. Progress Energy, one of the partners in the project, opened a second refueling station near Oviedo as part of a nationwidedemonstration project on fuel cell vehicles, led by the US Department of Energy. Eventually though, Florida’s hydrogen highway evaporated. After two years and 3,200 fill-ups, the two hydrogen refueling stations shut down and the pilot program finished.

California’s hydrogen efforts met similar results: the state now has a handful of  hydrogen fueling stations, but nowhere near the number former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger envisioned back in 2004.

image via Shutterstock

James Fenton, who directs the Florida Solar Energy Center, a research facility at the University of Central Florida, says hydrogen still has a place in the future of alternative fuels in Florida. But he says it’s more likely to be used in fuel cells in electric vehicles rather than powering internal combustion engines. “Eventually we’ll get to the point when all the battery-powered electric cars will have fuel cell range extenders,” says Fenton. “You’ll have electric cars with batteries for short trips because the electron out of the wall is dirt cheap, then you’ll electrolyze water somewhere else, fill your car with hydrogen and extend the range.”

And while electric vehicles aren’t yet a common sight on central Florida roads, Fenton says he’s upbeat about their future because mile for mile, electricity out of the wall is cheaper than gasoline. But he says there are still some obstacles to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

“We don’t have a hydrogen infrastructure,” says Fenton. “That’s the kicker.”

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