New Hydrofill In-Home Hydrogen Fuel Station Debuts

by Nino Marchetti, January 4th, 2010

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, a maker of hydrogen fuel cell technology, is unveiling this week at the Consumer Electronics Show a home-based, small scale hydrogen refueling and and storage solution which the company hopes will push consumers more towards hydrogen fuel cell usage.It is called the Hydrofill.
The Hydrofill, according to Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, is the world’s first personal hydrogen station. It is a small desktop device which “plugs into the AC, a solar panel or a small wind turbine, automatically extracts hydrogen from its water tank and stores it in a solid form in small refillable cartridges.”  With such a personal hydrogen solution, it is believed this could eliminate “the dependence on large-scale fueling infrastructure investments” by putting the action into individual homes.

image via Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies

“We no longer need to rely on nationwide networks of hydrogen fueling stations to enable large-scale fuel cell commercialization,” said Taras Wankewycz, one of the company’s founders, in a statement. “Horizon is initiating a transition that places consumers in the driving seat. Thanks to our innovation each household can gradually become a major part of tomorrow’s hydrogen fuel supply infrastructure.”