In 2020, 107 hydrogen refueling stations went into operation worldwide, more than ever before. 29 new hydrogen stations were opened in Europe, 72 in Asia, and 6 North America.
This is the result of the 13th annual assessment of H2stations.org, an information service of Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (LBST). Four countries showed a particular dynamic in expansion: Germany extended its network by 14 hydrogen stations, China by 18, Korea by 26, and Japan by 28.
At the end of 2020, 553 hydrogen refueling stations were in operation worldwide. 7 additional stations were added in the first few weeks of this year and concrete plans are already in place for 225 additional refueling station locations.
Europe had 200 hydrogen stations at the end of the last year, 100 of which are in Germany. France is still second in Europe with 34 operating stations, and with 38 planned hydrogen stations it currently shows the strongest growth in Europe. However, while the other European countries focus on publicly accessible passenger car refueling stations, most of the French stations aim at the refueling of buses and delivery vehicle fleets.
A significantly increasing number is also projected in the Netherlands, where the number of planned stations has increased to 23. In line with plans, the ninth refueling station was recently opened in Switzerland.
At the end of 2020, there were 275 hydrogen stations in Asia, 142 of them in Japan, and 60 in Korea. The 69 Chinese hydrogen stations in the database are used almost exclusively for the refueling of buses or truck fleets.
The majority of the 75 hydrogen stations in North America continues to be located in California with 49 operating stations. Four new refueling stations were also added in 2020, and the number of dedicated planned station was significantly increased to 43.
For the first time – at least geographically – Africa is represented in the statistics through plans to build a hydrogen station on the island of Tenerife.
