Public Facing Safety and Education for Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure

Building safe and convenient fuelling stations is key to deploying the arrival of commercial/public-use fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). As the most public-facing hydrogen applications, second only to the FCEVs, hydrogen stations are an efficient tool to educate the public about hydrogen safety and normalize its use to fill up our vehicles. However, as an emerging technology, it is the industry’s responsibility to ensure that fuelling infrastructures are designed and maintained in accordance with established safety standards and, thus, that the fuelling process is inherently safe for all users. On the other end, it is essential that consumers have all the necessary information at reach to help them feel safe while fuelling their zero-emission vehicles.

This paper will provide a snapshot of the safety systems used to help protect members of the public using hydrogen fueling stations, as well as the information used to educate people using this equipment. This will cover the different processes involved in hydrogen fueling stations, the dangers that are present to customers and members of the public at these sites, and the engineering design choices and equipment used to mitigate these dangers or prevent them from happening. Finally, this paper will discuss the crucial role of understanding the dangers of hydrogen at a public level and showing the importance of educating the public about hydrogen infrastructure so that people will feel comfortable using it in their everyday lives.