Near-term location planning of hydrogen refueling stations in Yokohama City

Establishing hydrogen refueling stations is key to transition into a hydrogen economy. To achieve this, a near-term, city-level roll-out plan is required, as Japan is shifting from the demonstration to implementation stage of a hydrogen economy. The aim of this study was to devise a plan to identify near-term locations to build hydrogen refueling stations in Yokohama City, Japan. Our plan provides information on the potential location of hydrogen refueling stations for 2020–2030. We considered mobile and parallel-siting type refueling stations; the locations of these stations were determined by matching the supply and demand estimated from hybrid vehicle ownership data and the available space in existing gas stations based on a safety perspective. The results reaffirmed the importance of planning the locations of hydrogen refueling stations and highlighted the suitability of using mobile-type stations. This was based on the uncertainty in fuel demand for fuel cell vehicles during the implementation stage of the hydrogen economy.