Eliciting preferences on the design of hydrogen refueling infrastructure

Hydrogen vehicles are already a reality, However, consumers will be reluctant to purchase hydrogen vehicles (or any other alternative fuel vehicle) if they do not perceive the existence of adequate refueling infrastructure that reduces the risk of running out of fuel regularly while commuting to acceptable levels. This fact leads to the need to study the minimum requirements in terms of fuel availability required by drivers to achieve a demand for hydrogen vehicles beyond potential early-adopters.This paper studies consumer preferences in relation to the design of urban hydrogen refueling infrastructure. To this end, the paper analyzes the results of a survey carried out in Andalusia, a region in southern Spain, on drivers' current refueling tendencies, their willingness to use hydrogen vehicles and their minimum requirements (maximum distance to be traveled to refuel and number of stations in the city) when establishing a network of hydrogen refueling stations in a city. The results show that consumers consider the existence in cities of an infrastructure with a number of refueling stations ranging from approximately 10 to 20% of the total number of conventional service stations as a requisite to trigger the switch to the use of hydrogen vehicles. In addition, these stations should be distributed in response to the drivers’ preferences to refuel close to home.