Cost of hydrogen per kilogram at Benning Road station in Washington, D.C.

(Note: To learn more about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their potential to solve the oil crisis, please read the series of articles titled “Twelve Hydrogen Facts” which is part of the Hydrogen Manhattan Project.)

For those looking for an up-to-date cost of hydrogen per kilogram, James Healey notes in the following USA Today article from September 4, 2008 about test driving the Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that:

“The test car’s 61 miles per kilogram of hydrogen in suburban use equated to 62 miles per gallon of gasoline. Washington, D.C.’s only public hydrogen pump, a Shell station, charged $8.18 per kg. So, $8.18 for 61 miles in Clarity, vs. about $9.35 in a 24-mpg, four-cylinder Accord.”

Most prototype hydrogen fuel cell vehicles get between 45 and 80 miles per kilogram of hydrogen.  The best is the Toyota Highlander Hybrid FCHV that gets 80 miles per kilogram and 516 miles of driving range.

At $8.18 per kilogram, the Toyota FCHV getting 80 miles would be the equivalent of paying about $2.00 or $2.50 per gallon of gasoline in a car that gets 20 or 25 miles per gallon.

Here is a picture of this extraordinary vehicle: