Regrettably, one of Norway’s three hydrogen fuel stations blew up on Monday (thankfully, without a loss of life or limb.) Even more regrettably, the incident puts (harrumph) new fire under the hard to understand hate campaign against a promising solution in the battle against global warming.

First, the facts. On Monday, 6/11/2019 at 5:40 pm local, the Uno-X hydrogen station in Sandvika in Bærum, Norway, exploded. Nobody was harmed, except for two people who received minor injuries when the airbags in their cars deployed – possibly triggered by the blast. Video here. The cause of the eruption is unknown, and under investigation. Norway’s major Aftenposten daily says it was “probably a hydrogen tank that exploded.” Even that isn’t 100% sure yet.

For sure the incident is hard on the few owners of FCV vehicles in Norway and Europe. According to public data, some 160 hydrogen FCVs have been registered in Norway, 102 of them in the region served by the Uno-X station in Sandvika. The remaining 52 also are out of hydrogen gas, because Uno-X closed all its three hydrogen stations it has in Norway, and it stopped the sale of hydrogen in other EU countries. Uno-X is a chain of discount gas stations. Their sales of gasoline and diesel remain unaffected.

So far, the biggest impact of the explosion is on Norway’s FCV drivers, who don’t know where to fuel-up. According to media reports, Toyota will supply its Norwegian FCV customers with loaners. The only companies selling FCVs in Norway are Toyota and Hyundai, and the enthusiasm for their hydrogen-powered cars is limited. Toyota sold all of 7 (seven) FCV Mirai in Norway this year, Hyundai is ahead of Toyota with 21 (twenty-one) FCVs sold since January 1st. Both OEMs are reported to have stopped their FCV sales – in Norway.