Running on empty: surviving a hydrogen-powered road trip
We attempt to cross California in a car powered entirely by hydrogen gas — a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). Along the way, we meet other early adopters of this tech, and find out why the world seems to be choosing battery electric cars over hydrogen.
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00:00Alright, it's done. 1.3, that doesn't feel like a full tank's worth. I don't know what
00:12I'm doing wrong. I'm doing something wrong. Please seek attendant. I don't think there
00:21is an attendant here.
00:23Okay, I know it looks like I don't know how to use a gas pump, but this is not a normal
00:29gas station, and it's not a normal car. This is a Toyota Mirai. It's powered entirely by
00:35hydrogen. We're trying to drive it from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, about 320 miles,
00:43and we may have just broken one of the only fuel pumps between those two cities, which
00:49could strand us and every other hydrogen road tripper at this very strange rest stop in
00:55the middle of nowhere.
00:57We just hosed everyone else who is trying to make this road trip this weekend.
01:02Let me back up a little. Okay, a lot.
01:04Thank you very much for a nice introduction.
01:07In 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cut the ribbon on something he called California's
01:12hydrogen highway.
01:13We will not just dream about the hydrogen highway. We will build it.
01:19California wanted to be the launchpad for hydrogen fuel cell technology, a really promising
01:24alternative to gasoline.
01:26Fuel cell cars use hydrogen gas to generate power for electric motors. The only byproduct
01:32is pure water.
01:33They are all producing water rather than pollution.
01:37So here's how that went. Initially, lots of people got really excited about a hydrogen-powered
01:42future.
01:43We believe the ultimate solution is hydrogen.
01:45Auto companies built fuel cell cars.
01:47Look at the fantastic cars that the hydrogen road tour has brought to us.
01:51And California shelled out more than $250 million to build a network of fuel stations.
01:57But as that was happening, battery electric cars got a lot better.
02:02They eventually beat out hydrogen as the more practical successor to gasoline.
02:08But here's the odd part.
02:09In California, the hydrogen dream never quite ended.
02:13Today, there are still thousands of people driving fuel cell cars, and around 50 stations
02:19to support them.
02:21But those stations are unreliable.
02:23Fuel costs are skyrocketing.
02:26And frustrations are bubbling over.
02:28So many zero-emission car owners are having zero luck filling up.
02:33So what are we doing here?
02:34We wanted to take a road trip in one of these cars and meet as many other drivers as we
02:40could find, to see what life is like on the hydrogen highway, and find out how far it
02:46could really take us.
02:50Here's what happened.
02:51First, we flew into San Francisco and rented a Mirai and Turo.
02:56The owner immediately warned us about our travel plans.
02:59When I came to know you were in LA, I was like, wait a second, I was a little uncomfortable.
03:05Between LA and here, I think there's like one or two pumps.
03:09So if that pump is down, then you're stuck.
03:14The 50-ish fuel stations in California are overwhelmingly clustered around San Francisco
03:20and LA.
03:21There were plans to put pumps every 20 miles along highways, but that never happened.
03:26You've never driven down to-
03:27No, not yet.
03:28Yeah.
03:29I didn't want to take a chance yet.
03:31We're almost to the mountain view.
03:35We spent the day driving the Mirai across the Bay Area.
03:38The car drove great, but we really wanted to check out the fuel stations around here.
03:44On paper, there were about 17, but a handful were offline for one reason or another.
03:49Your destination is on the right.
03:51One in Silicon Valley has been broken for two years.
03:54Two years of not being operable, that's pretty sad that it's not working, you know?
03:59And the working stations seemed kind of iffy.
04:03The sign is glitching out in a way that makes me very nervous.
04:06Oh, I think it timed out or something.
04:09It turns out that putting cold compressed hydrogen gas into a car is a lot more complicated
04:14than filling a tank up with gasoline.
04:16Pump ready.
04:17Okay.
04:19Oh no.
04:20Wait, wait, wait.
04:21No, no, no, no, no.
04:22It just timed out.
04:23It just reset again.
04:26We also discovered just how much it costs to fuel these cars right now.
04:30A little bit of quick math, 36 bucks a kilogram times five kilogram tank would be $180 to
04:38fill up.
04:39But we were newbies to all of this, so we went and found some experts.
04:43This is the third station we are right now, we came.
04:47Oh, you tried to go to two others.
04:49Yeah, there's one station in Sunnyvale, one in San Jose, and this is one in Cupertino.
04:52Half the time, these don't work here.
04:55Menadip and Rupesh have only had their car for about four months.
04:59And that whole time, they've had to hunt for fuel and ration what they have.
05:03I was averaging about 70 or 65 miles per gallon, I could say.
05:09Yeah, yeah.
05:10Boy, so you have to really think about how you're driving the car.
05:14You have to focus on the road and also on your mileage.
05:17Yeah, yeah.
05:18So you said you just got the car?
05:20So this car I got for $15,000, hard to beat, right?
05:25Yeah, absolutely.
05:26Rebecca wanted a battery electric car, but she couldn't find anything for less than
05:30$40,000.
05:32But then a dealership offered her a killer deal on a Mirai with only 23,000 miles on
05:36it.
05:37For that price, she's willing to put up with the rest.
05:40That's it, I'm paying a fortune in hydrogen, but it'll take something like 13 years.
05:45I did my math.
05:46It'll take 13 years before this vehicle will cost me more than if I were to buy a
05:5340,000-something electric vehicle.
05:57We told everyone about our road trip, and they gave us some tips for making our hydrogen
06:01last.
06:02No AC, go easy on the pedal, always know where the next station is, call the stations, stick
06:09to the speed limit.
06:10If possible, go below the speed limit, try to be in the rightmost lane.
06:15This is not the road trip that we were looking forward to having, you know.
06:20I'm really sorry for spoiling your road trip.
06:24And then, it was time to hit the open road for Los Angeles.
06:28Not the send-off we were hoping for.
06:30The route guidance will start now.
06:37It's about 320 miles from the last fueling station in the Bay Area all the way down to
06:43the first in the Los Angeles area.
06:45And that is right at the maximum range of the Mirai we're driving.
06:50So it would be pretty foolhardy to try to make it all the way on one tank.
06:54There is one fueling station on Interstate 5 in between the two cities.
06:58It's at a place called Harris Ranch.
07:01And we really want to find drivers who are putting the hydrogen highway to the test the
07:07way that we're trying to do it.
07:09And so, if we're going to find any of those other people, it's going to be at Harris Ranch.
07:25I see it.
07:26In the distance.
07:27I see the sign.
07:28It's a big sign.
07:30101 degrees and it smells overwhelmingly like cow.
07:36Oh my god.
07:38It's beautiful.
07:39It looks like a little oasis.
07:41It is.
07:49Harris Ranch turned out to be this huge, sprawling, weirdly fancy watering hole in the middle
07:55of nowhere.
07:56It's right next door to a huge cattle ranch.
07:59And over time, it's blossomed into a tourist destination unto itself.
08:04There's a Spanish hacienda-style resort hotel, a sprawling restaurant, a gift shop with its
08:11own butcher counter.
08:13There's a roadside stand that sells bonsai trees.
08:17But in the midst of all that, it is a rest stop.
08:20There's a big Shell gas station, and the largest bank of Tesla supercharger plugs in the world.
08:27And off in its own little corner, the loneliest little hydrogen pump.
08:32Which brings us back to where we started, trying to get fuel.
08:39I hope I didn't just break it for everybody else.
08:42I'm just going to strand them in this lovely oasis in the desert.
08:45But I'm going to try to just put my credit card in and start another transaction and
08:49see if that does anything.
08:50Haha!
08:51337!
08:52Without AC, we are back to about 330 miles.
08:56I think we have a full tank.
08:57We did it.
08:58Oh god.
09:00But we couldn't just peace out for LA.
09:03We had to find other hydrogen road trippers like us.
09:06So we hung out at the fuel pump, in 100 degree heat, and waited, and waited, and waited.
09:20It was a Friday evening, so we were sure we'd catch some weekend travelers.
09:25But no one showed.
09:30Eventually we got bored and wandered over to the Tesla area.
09:34And do you take it on a bunch of road trips like this?
09:36Oh yeah.
09:37So we live in Antigua, we go to Yosemite, we go to San Francisco.
09:40We haven't taken it up north, but we've gone all the way to San Diego just last week.
09:43Road trips are amazing when you have a Tesla and you have the whole thing.
09:47Super reliable and super easy to get charging everywhere.
09:52Any trouble finding charging stations, or having range, or any of that?
09:57No, not at all.
10:11Amtri.
10:12This 30 year old.
10:1330 years?
10:14Yeah.
10:15This 32 year old.
10:16The second one, the 22 year old.
10:1722 years old?
10:18Wow.
10:20Night fell.
10:22We got hungry.
10:24We ordered dinner at the gas station convenience store, which was also a barbecue pit.
10:29We sat on a little porch looking out at the hydrogen pump.
10:32We dubbed this, sorry in advance, the stakeout.
10:36We were really tired.
10:39But then, finally, the lights came on.
10:44We were really tired.
10:48But then, finally, around 8 p.m., someone showed up.
10:53I guess I probably have to wait a little bit.
10:54Did you guys just fill up, or?
10:56It was earlier today.
10:57Have you seen anybody else?
10:58Nope.
10:59Oh, really?
11:00No, no one else.
11:01Billy was the hydrogen road warrior we'd dreamed of.
11:04He lives in L.A., and he's taken his Mirai
11:06up to the bay a bunch of times.
11:09He loves the car, and he isn't too phased
11:11by the fuel situation.
11:13Because I live by a station relatively nearby,
11:17so we don't really have that problem.
11:20And my commute is only like eight miles one way, so.
11:24Billy even told us about an alternate route
11:27between the two cities.
11:28There's a station in Santa Barbara,
11:30about 100 miles north of L.A.,
11:33and from there, it's a straight shot up the 101
11:36all the way to San Jose.
11:38It's a better drive.
11:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:40It's a more scenic drive.
11:41At the same time, you, yeah,
11:44you get a little bit anxious,
11:45because by the time you get to the next station,
11:47you have like 50 miles left.
11:50Have you never run out of gas?
11:52Almost, almost, but, I mean,
11:55Toyota gives you the service where you can,
11:59they'll tow it for free.
12:00Yes, that is a real service Toyota offers Mirai drivers.
12:04I have not used that at all.
12:05So, luckily.
12:07Yeah, yeah.
12:07Luck of words.
12:08Totally.
12:10And that was it.
12:11Our hydrogen vigil was ended.
12:14We let Billy go, took in the stale,
12:17gasoline-y night air, and crashed at our hotel.
12:21We had another big day of driving ahead of us.
12:33Day three on the road.
12:35My leg is so mad at me.
12:37Finally, pulling into LA.
12:40The first station, it's in San Fernando.
12:43It's online, got plenty of hydrogen.
12:45So, we'll check that out, see if there are drivers there.
12:47And then, that's kind of it, like if I zoom out,
12:52all those gray icons are offline stations.
12:56So, it's these three ones that are online,
12:58and then all of this is offline.
13:00Look at that, it's kind of crazy.
13:03Yeah, I think it's a little bit crazy,
13:04but look at that, it's kind of crazy.
13:07Yeah, I think this is the worst I've seen the map,
13:10honestly, since we've been looking at it.
13:17Okay, I see it.
13:18We'd heard about a months-long
13:19hydrogen supply disruption in Los Angeles.
13:22That's why lots of the stations were offline.
13:25Not great, especially because there are
13:28more fuel cell drivers in LA
13:30than anywhere else in the state.
13:32So, we wondered, what's life been like
13:35for early adopters down here?
13:36It's been awful, to be completely honest.
13:39Yeah, how do you like it?
13:41I don't like it.
13:42The gas is just too expensive.
13:43$36 a kilo, it's insane.
13:47We heard lots of familiar things.
13:49Fueling glitches, brutal prices, range anxiety.
13:53Once again, there was a lot of love for the cars.
13:56I like the car, it runs well.
13:59Car is perfect, no problem.
14:01It's an amazing car.
14:02How it drives, it's an awesome car.
14:05Undercut by the experience of using them.
14:07The truth is, when you get this car,
14:09like, you have to program yourself mentally.
14:13Like, you have to have calculations
14:15every distance that you're going.
14:17It's kind of painful for me.
14:18Yeah.
14:19Yeah, because if you will use an ordinary sedan,
14:23you'll just pay for your gas like $200 per month.
14:26But for this one, it's like $400, $450.
14:30Does it feel like you're just in this kind of pilot program?
14:32Yes. Yeah.
14:34But it wasn't sold like that.
14:35When I got it, it was like, oh, you just go to,
14:38it's like filling up your gas at a regular station.
14:41You just go put it in and you're done.
14:43Most days it doesn't just work.
14:45It doesn't just work.
14:45Yeah.
14:46And lots of the drivers agreed on one thing.
14:49What do you think you're going to do with it long-term?
14:51Get rid of it.
14:52I'm trying to take it back to Toyota.
14:54I would go to hybrid.
14:56I'm thinking of buying a hybrid now.
14:58So what do you think you're going to do
14:59with the car long-term?
15:00The resale value is very bad.
15:04Yeah.
15:09Before this trip,
15:10everything we'd read about the hydrogen highway
15:13made it seem like an alternate reality,
15:16a little bubble where batteries had lost
15:18and fuel cells had won.
15:21We came to California to see how much of that was real.
15:24So what can I say now about the hydrogen highway?
15:28Well, it's there, it's real,
15:30but it's hanging by a thread.
15:33California is still investing money in stations
15:36and Toyota and others are still selling fuel cell cars.
15:40But the drivers we talked to,
15:42the picture they painted was of an exciting,
15:45frustrating experiment winding down,
15:50which might not spell the end of fuel cells as a technology.
15:54Lots of hydrogen boosters aren't throwing in the towels
15:57so much as pivoting away from passenger cars
16:01to trucking, to industrial equipment,
16:04to boats, planes, mobile power stations,
16:07other things that hydrogen could power
16:10without the need to build a fuel station
16:12every few miles across America.
16:15So is the future full of hydrogen?
16:18Maybe.
16:19Is it a highway?
16:21Maybe not.
16:22At least not the way we think of one.
16:25For now, that leaves a very few early adopters
16:29of sticking with hydrogen come hell or high water,
16:32riding that highway as far as it'll take them.
16:35I'm gonna stick with my Mirai
16:38as long as I'm in California.
16:44So I've been standing here for five minutes
16:45trying to yank it off.
16:46Yeah.
16:47And sometimes it just,
16:50okay, like right now's a good example.
16:51Okay, this has happened to me.
16:54So it gets like really cold,
16:56like you could tell there's like ice.
16:58Oh, okay.
16:58So that's, it is just like freezing.