What hydrogen car options are available in the US in 2024?

What can American drivers buy if they’re committed to a vehicle powered by H2?

The concept of a hydrogen car has been growing in appeal, with automakers moving in and out – and back in again – of projects to develop, design and manufacture these vehicles.  That said, if you live in the United States, what options are available to you if you’d like to give one of these H2-powered vehicles a try?

Not a lot of choice yet

As appealing as a hydrogen car is to some drivers in the United States, these vehicles are not widely available, particularly to motorists living outside California.  Due to a number of challenges to the widespread rollout of these vehicles, the market has remained exceptionally small in the Unites States so far.

Anyone in the US determined to own an H2-powered passenger vehicle has very few options when it comes to the make, model, or even where they make their purchase.  Currently, there are two automakers that each sell one option, as well as a third that is no longer producing its H2 cars, but there is a very slim chance of being fortunate enough to find it used, if that was the driver’s preference.

The two models of hydrogen car available in California

The two automakers selling H2-powered cars in California, Toyota and Hyundai. Toyota sells its Mirai H2-powered sedan, while Hyundai’s car is the Nexo. At the time of the writing of this article in June 2024, the base MSRP of the Mirai was $49,500, and the Nexo’s base MSRP was $60,135.  Honda had previously sold its Clarity, but that model has been discontinued.

Credit: Photo by depositphotos.com

That said, being able to actually purchase the vehicle is only the first step among a number of challenges faced by drivers who are determined to get behind the wheel of an H2-powerered passenger vehicle.

Fueling up

Among the reasons that the only state in which you can buy a hydrogen car is California is because that’s also the only state where public fueling stations have opened.  There is a limited refueling network in California, which currently faces supply chain issues and extended downtimes, but remains the only place for drivers to be able to refill their H2 tanks.

As a result, heading to California to purchase one of these vehicles for use out of state remains essentially out of the question for the moment.

Still, with support from government grants and with the expansion of the popularity of the concept of the hydrogen car, many expect that both vehicle availability and refueling network growth will soon be highly visible to drivers interested in ownership in the US.