It’s been a chicken-and-egg problem: how can you get more hydrogen-powered cars on the road without more fueling stations offering hydrogen? And how can you get more fueling stations to offer hydrogen until there are more hydrogen-powered cars on the road?

By the end of June, though, one Los Angeles Shell Station will be offering hydrogen, though. Several more LA stations plan to add similar accommodations in the next few months. The Shell Station on Santa Monica Boulevard is adding an on-site electrolyzer to create hydrogen. The filling station is taking part in a U.S. Department of Energy research program; both Shell and GM have teamed up with the DOE. For the time being the stations will be generating their hydrogen from electricity in turn generated by fossil fuels. But Shell is working with wind power and geothermal power sources to develop a better plan.

This is a clear step to making hydrogen-powered vehicles practical on the streets of LA. Maybe Shell can even help hydrogen power break out of its chicken-and-egg cycle.

Photo — RoadSidePictures