The California Fuel Cell Partnership announced at RE+ that it has changed its name to the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership (HFCP). The name change comes nearly 23 years after the government-industry collaboration was first launched.

The evolution to a national organization comes at the same time as the partnership’s initiation of a new national H₂ mobility strategy. Seeking to accelerate the expansion of national H₂ production and distribution to support heavy-duty trucking and light-duty rollout across the U.S., the strategy will enable the necessary links between ports, key commercial and urban centers, and H₂ hubs across the U.S. and ideally, North America. The strategy will leverage the organization’s earlier roadmaps and visions for cars and heavy-duty trucks, as well as national laboratory and state transportation models. In addition, it draws upon California’s policy and investment experience that launched the first retail zero-emission vehicle market in the world and identified achievable steps to a self-sustaining fueling network.

“When the Partnership published its first roadmap outlining how California could launch the world's first fuel cell car market, there were no retail stations or vehicles available. Many questioned if stakeholders could pull off such a feat,” said Bill Elrick, executive director of HFCP. “A decade later, with increasing global recognition of the importance of hydrogen in achieving our zero-emission vehicle and renewable energy objectives, we are more certain that this is a necessary and achievable objective. Hydrogen is no longer a question of if; rather, it is one of who leads and where first?”

“Our nation’s trucking network is key to the movement of goods, and so any strategy to synchronize the rollout of heavy-duty fuel cell electric trucks with hydrogen fueling infrastructure must be national in scope,” said Jerome Gregeois, past chair of HFCP and Director, Commercial Vehicles Development at Hyundai. “We intend to take our culture of collaboration between industry and government to enable regions across the U.S. to plan and cooperate with other regions.”

“Our evolution into a national nonprofit reflects strong agreement between industry and government that the dialogue we have created to achieve common goals can benefit other states and regions,” noted Sandy Berg, former Partnership chair, member of the California Air Resources Board and president & CEO of the Berg Family of Companies. “But partnership means more than simply talking; our entire organization is built around the principle we must work together to address common challenges.”

“For more than twenty years, the Partnership has brought together government and industry in constructive dialogue to further commercialization of hydrogen mobility to achieve our common environmental and economic goals,” said Joseph Cappello, chair of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership and chief executive officer of Iwatani Corporation of America. “The change in name further enables our members to work across the country to share information, best practices and lessons learned by all of our members.”

“The Partnership, established as a national nonprofit, will further enable government, private industry, universities and others to take lessons learned from successes achieved and challenges met in California and across the globe to other states and communities across the U.S.,” said Tyson Eckerle, Senior Advisor for Clean Infrastructure and Mobility at the CA Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and vice chair of HFCP. “Hydrogen mobility will complement battery electric mobility and ensure that we build a zero-emission, resilient transportation future that includes everyone.”