Hydrogen Fueling Station Explodes But No One is Hurt

Hydrogen fueling stations are becoming more and more popular. The fact that one just blew up in Norway, though, might make you think twice about using one (if you are a naysayer).

However, one positive to this story is that nobody was hurt. Usually, these stories come with some kind of tragic long-term injury or hurt for the people involved. Not this time. However, those who would rather we used batteries over hydrogen are very quick to jump on this as “proof” that hydrogen cannot be trusted. At the time of writing, there is not much factual information about what has gone wrong, just hearsay and opinion from those who were not connected to the incident.

The future of hydrogen electrical vehicles has been one that has often been sold as a safer, greener future. The fact that an H2 station has blown up will obviously alarm some people who might be worried about the green future being a bit riskier than we are often told. However, the problem is that nobody is quite sure what caused the problem so, it’s hard to put a solution in place if there is no definitive proof as to why this has happened.

A safe explosion

Seemingly, the explosion was loud and forceful enough that people in Sandvika, around 10 miles west of the Oslo city center, were able to hear it going off. However, the fact that nobody was hurt is obviously a huge benefit. Uno-X, the owner of the location where the explosion took place, have closed down all of their H2 stations for now. They will shut down all three of their stations, with the other seven Norwegian hydrogen fueling stations likely to be closed temporarily, too.

The fact that just 170 privately owned hydrogen fuel-cell cars exist in the whole of Norway at the moment shows that this is still a growing and improving industry. However, it’s likely that, if stories like this can be corrected without issue, then we could see more of these vehicles on the road in the near future.

Stores like this, though, do nothing to help put off anti-hydrogen groups, who would rather we continue along the same path we have been in the past. That would be a shame, since this technology has ample potential to be used in a meaningful and helpful way. To give up on it due to once incident would be a massive shame. Did we give up on gasoline stations every time there was an explosion? The answer is “No!”

Until a solution and clear answers are found, though, this incident will likely cause consternation among both pro and anti-hydrogen groups.

Citations

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a28004584/hydrogen-station-fire-norway-safety/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hydrogen-48-times-safer-than-gasdiesel-keith-d-patch – a good case made for why hydrogen stations are safer than petroleum stations