Bill Pierre Ford

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE) announced today Clean Energy will open a hydrogen fueling station in Los Angeles with support from GM. The two companies also announced that they are exploring further opportunities to expand the hydrogen infrastructure.

As the first step in this effort, a hydrogen fueling station will be developed and located at Clean Energy’s compressed natural gas (CNG) facility near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The hydrogen station will be used by drivers taking part in Chevrolet’s Project Driveway, the world’s largest market test of fuel cell vehicles. It is expected to be operational by early fall.

GM and Clean Energy are discussing potential opportunities to expand this first station into a network of hydrogen fueling stations by leveraging Clean Energy’s natural gas fueling expertise and the real-world customer experience gained by fueling more than 14,000 vehicles daily at over 170 CNG stations across North America.

“Developing and growing hydrogen infrastructure is vital to GM’s efforts to bring larger volumes of fuel cell vehicles to the market,” said Mary Beth Stanek, director of energy and environmental policy & commercialization at General Motors. “We’re supporting this hydrogen station near LAX because we recognize a critical role for Clean Energy’s existing CNG infrastructure in helping expand the hydrogen infrastructure. We expect to learn important lessons from Clean Energy’s expertise in developing and operating a network of natural gas fueling stations.”

The LAX station will help both companies better understand the synergies between hydrogen and natural gas fueling.

“Working with General Motors in this highly significant project makes great sense,” said Andrew J. Littlefair, Clean Energy’s president and CEO. “Developing a cost-effective hydrogen infrastructure is a challenge. By leveraging the growing network of natural gas stations, a variety of hydrogen station designs can be introduced to the public. Ultimately, reforming pipeline natural gas to produce hydrogen at our stations may be done inexpensively, thereby taking advantage of the ready infrastructure. This approach can help accelerate a larger-scale deployment of hydrogen vehicles.”

Littlefair also noted that Clean Energy and GM can work to broaden the awareness of the societal and customer benefits of cleaner gaseous fuels as the world moves to diversify its sources of energy.

Chevrolet’s Project Driveway is putting more than 100 Equinox fuel cell vehicles in the hands of real customers to help Chevy and GM understand what it will take to bring larger numbers of fuel cell vehicles to customers around the world. Currently, the program has launched in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington D.C. with further deployments later this year in Europe and Asia.