California is already home to a small, but still significant, number of hydrogen refueling stations. These stations have been expensive to build so far, but a new Shell hydrogen station has been built in Torrance which for the first time taps into an existing hydrogen pipeline. This might not seem like a major development in the world of alt-fuel, but the ability to cheaply expand the network of refueling stations could have a major impact on what we drive.

For quite a few customers, hydrogen is much more appealing than battery EVs because they don't need all the hours of charging. The problem is that carmakers don't want to invest in building them if customers don't have a place to refuel them, and if the stations are too expensive to build then hydrogen would never become feasible. This new station might be the beginning of a much bigger investment in hydrogen.