The lack of infrastructure for out-of-state travel is a major impediment to the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs), and there is a need to increase the number of hydrogen fueling stations. A major obstacle to the development of such infrastructure is the enormous capital investment required to construct and equip a hydrogen refueling station. The costs of building a station in California, e.g., have been benchmarked at approximately $2.8 million for stations with an approximate 450 kg/day capacity. Due to such costs, recent studies suggest that launching hydrogen refueling infrastructure on a national scale sufficient to foster substantial increased manufacturing and sales of fuel cell electric vehicles will likely take at least ten years and cost tens of billions of dollars.
The proposed statute would provide financial assistance for the development of hydrogen refueling infrastructure in the U.S. by creating a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the capital costs of stationary hydrogen refueling infrastructure equipment, including the equipment itself and any shipping, installation, commissioning, or other standard service costs included by the equipment supplier in the purchase of the equipment. The credit would be available for tax years beginning after December 31, 2020, and remain available for a period of ten years, expiring on December 31, 2030.