FirstElement Fuel (FEF) has received a US$7.7 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to help expand FirstElement Fuel's Santa Ana manufacturing facility output by more than 10 times, increasing local jobs, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by enabling more zero-emission transportation.
FEF, a California-based company, is a leader in hydrogen refuelling solutions, currently operating a large network of hydrogen refuelling stations comprised of 85 dispensers across 40 station locations and serving hydrogen-powered vehicles across California, US.
Joel Ewanick, Founder and CEO of FEF, said: "The CEC is playing a huge role to transition the state of California, and the world, away from fossil fuels. It's an honour to continue our partnership with the CEC to make zero-emissions transportation a reality."
FEF's manufacturing facility in Santa Ana, California, US, currently produces critical high tech components and systems for hydrogen refuelling stations, including liquid hydrogen cryopump systems. The scale-up of the Santa Ana, FirstElement Fuel Innovation Centre, partially funded by the CEC, will increase local jobs and reduce GHG emissions by enabling more zero-emissions transportation. FEF was awarded the grant through the CEC's Zero-Emission Transportation Manufacturing competitive grant solicitation. FEF will also contribute at least US$14M to the project.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles have the capacity to transform modern transportation by eliminating tailpipe emissions, slashing carbon emissions, and more than doubling driving efficiency as compared to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. California State government policy has supported a transition to hydrogen in the transportation sector as part of its zero-emission vehicle strategy. Setting up adequate supply chains and manufacturing of hydrogen refuelling station equipment to supply the development of a hydrogen refuelling network is critical to the successful scale-up of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
FEF's manufacturing expansion project will extend to March 2026 and enable FEF to increase the number of liquid hydrogen pumps built per year. FEF will also increase its pump testing capability at its hydrogen logistics hub and field-testing facility located in Livermore, California, US, as part of this project.