Where can I buy hydrogen and where is my nearest hydrogen filling station?

The idea of driving a hydrogen car is appealing to a lot of people because the hydrogen fuel cell technology that powers the majority of these vehicles offers the low emissions of an EV coupled with the fast refuelling of a petrol car. Right now, however, your options as a UK consumer for buying a hydrogen car and finding somewhere to fuel it are severely limited. Here’s everything you need to know. 

Hydrogen fuel-cell cars (HCEVs) are an intriguing alternative to battery-electric cars (BEVs). In contrast to pure electric cars with their potentially long charging times, hydrogen cars can be topped up quickly at a refuelling station - not unlike regular combustion-engined vehicles. Plus, hydrogen vehicles also offer superior range capabilities than most EVs, with the latest Toyota Mirai being able to travel up to 400 miles with a full hydrogen fuel tank.

Hydrogen cars don’t have to compromise on space or practicality as a result of big batteries - although space is needed for a hydrogen tank - and the only emissions produced by the fuel cells is water from the exhaust pipe, so there are no harmful gases either. As long as hydrogen is created using 100 per cent renewable sources, it's completely sustainable, too. There are, however, some limitations to hydrogen power.

Firstly, over recent years there have been just two hydrogen fuel-cell cars on sale in the UK: the aforementioned Toyota Mirai and the Hyundai NEXO SUV. The latter is now only offered to business customers on a lease with very limited availability and with a wait of between 5 months to a year for delivery. Hydrogen-powered versions of the Renault Master LCV and Vauxhall Vivaro Electric vans are on sale in Europe, but neither have landed on British shores to date.

BMW has created a fleet of 100 hydrogen-powered versions of its X5 SUV, one of which we drove back in February 2023, but you can't buy one. Instead, served as rolling laboratories to see if hydrogen really does have a place in the future of cars. In September 2024, BMW confirmed that it would be putting a hydrogen fuel cell car into production with an anticipated on sale date of 2028. So it seems that the rolling laboratories have garnered some promising results.

Hyundai is also working on other hydrogen-powered cars, including a production version of its internet-breaking N Vision 74 concept that was unveiled in 2022 but it's unclear when the road-going model will arrive in showrooms, but reports in South Korea suggest we could see it as soon as 2026, with Hyundai potentially producing 500 examples each costing in excess of £280,000. 

​But not only is there a highly limited selection of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles available at this point in time, the number of hydrogen filling stations in the UK have in fact been going down over the past few years.

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​Where can I find a UK hydrogen refuelling station?

In the UK we are limited to just seven hydrogen filling stations, which is a reduction from the 10 that existed in March 2022. These stations are scattered around the country with locations in places such as London, Wales, Scotland, Birmingham and Sheffield. You can see below the full list of UK hydrogen filling stations available to the public:

Shell previously had three hydrogen filling stations in the UK, however they have since been closed. These were located at Beaconsfield Services, Cobham Services and Gatwick Airport. The other two stations that closed in 2023 are the Rainham filling station and the one in Teddington, both of which were run by ITM Power.

Although the UK hydrogen refuelling network has been shrinking, it is likely to start to further increase again in the near future. In August 2023 a company called Element 2 won £8 million in government funding to build four new hydrogen refuelling stations, one of which is planned to be at Teesside Airport and due to go live in 2024.

How long does it take to fill a car with hydrogen and how much does it cost?

Hydrogen cars, like traditional petrol and diesel vehicles, are easy to refuel. It takes as little as five minutes to fill the tank, and the pumps are very similar to conventional fossil fuel ones. You simply insert the nozzle into the car in the same way.

In the UK, a kilogramme of hydrogen costs between £10 and £15. For context, the Toyota Mirai has a fuel tank that holds up to 5.6kg, meaning it should cost no more than £84 to fill up at the highest rate, and as little as £56 at the lowest rate.