In addition to the cost of the car, one must consider the cost of the fueling infrastructure needed to make hydrogen vehicles a viable replacement. British Petroleum’s chief scientist noted in 2003 that for hydrogen to succeed as a transportation fuel “it has to be available in 30 to 50% of the retail network from the day the first mass manufactured cars hit the showrooms.” Joseph J. Romm, who served in a number of high-level positions in the Clinton administration’s Department of Energy, writes in his definitive 2005 book The Hype About Hydrogen that “a hydrogen fueling infrastructure alone based on current commercial or near-commercial technology could cost more than a half trillion dollars.”

A fueling infrastructure would cost more for hydrogen than for other alternatives to petroleum, such as biofuels. Standard liquid fuel tanks are insufficient for hydrogen distribution since hydrogen can only be converted to liquid form at -423 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees from absolute zero). Thus, Brookings Institution energy and environment scholar David Sandalow notes in his 2008 book Freedom from Oil that in order to carry hydrogen, fuel service stations would require new varieties of tanks “capable of handling pressurized gaseous material or supercooled liquid.” The cost to these stations would be high...