In 2024, around 125 new H₂ refueling stations were opened worldwide: 42 in Europe, around 30 in China, 25 in South Korea, 8 in Japan and 13 in North America. This is the result of the 17th annual evaluation of H2stations.org, an information service of LBST GmbH. 45 countries now have a H₂ refueling infrastructure in operation or under construction.

Around 1,160 H₂ refueling stations were in operation worldwide at the end of 2024, which represents a further increase compared to the previous year. This also includes 384 H₂ refueling stations in China.

New to the list of countries with H₂ refueling stations in operation are New Zealand, Bulgaria and Slovakia. There are also concrete plans for at least 377 additional refueling station locations outside China.

At the end of the year, Europe had 294 H₂ refueling stations, 113 of which were in Germany. France was in second place in Europe with 65 refueling stations, followed by the Netherlands with 25 and Switzerland with 19. The first H₂ refueling stations in Bulgaria and Slovakia have been opened in their capitals.

While many projects in Europe are still in the planning phase, the ratio of stations already in operation in East Asia continued to rise.

At the end of 2024, 748 H₂ refueling stations were in operation in Asia, 384 of them in China. Despite the difficult access to information, H2stations.org was able to find out the details of 203 refueling stations located in China. In South Korea, 198 refueling stations were in operation and in Japan it is possible to refuel vehicles at 161 locations. Outside of China, South Korea was the world leader in the expansion of H₂ refueling infrastructure for the third time in a row with 25 stations in operation.

In North America, 13 new stations were opened last year, with the number in Canada increasing by four to twelve. In the U.S., nine new stations were opened, but twelve were taken out of operation, reducing the number of H₂ refueling stations in operation to 89. Of these, 74 were located in California.

The actual number of H₂ refueling stations is subject to uncertainties, partly due to a lack of public announcements in the event of closures.

The maps are based on data from LBST’s own HRS database H2stations.org