Air Liquide to add four US hydrogen refuelling stations
At this stage, California is the only US state with anything close to substantial numbers of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, however, Air Liquide has announced plans to to install two stations in Massachusetts, one in New York, and one in Connecticut by early 2017. This will be good news for Toyota, which has announced plans to increase deliveries of its fuel cell vehicle (the Mirai) from 1k to 3k p.a. by the end of 2017.

California is the only U.S. state with substantial hydrogen fueling infrastructure, but now one company is giving the Northeast some attention.

Air Liquide plans to open a small network of public hydrogen fueling stations in three Northeastern states by early 2017.

The company—which has installed around 75 stations globally—will undertake this project with support from Toyota.

DON'T MISS: How Many Hydrogen Cars For Northeast U.S.? 10,000 In 10 Years, Plan Says (Feb 2015)

Four locations have already been chosen, with two stations slated for Massachusetts, and one each for New York and Connecticut.

The New York station will be located in the New York City borough of The Bronx, while the Connecticut station will be built in Hartford, the state capital.

The Massachusetts stations will be located in the Boston suburb of Braintree, and in Mansfield, closer to the Rhode Island border.

Air Liquide hydrogen fueling station

These four stations will provide at least some basic infrastructure should hydrogen fuel-cell car sales expand beyond California sometime soon.

Given its involvement in the fueling-station project, it's likely that Toyota is at least considering sales of its Mirai sedan in the Northeast.

ALSO SEE: 2017 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell Priced 'Around $60,000,' CA Launch Before End Of Year

The Mirai went on sale through eight California dealers last year, and even there lack of fueling infrastructure has posed a problem.

Earlier this year, Toyota asked some dealers to stop Mirai deliveries, because fewer stations were available than the company had anticipated.

2016 Toyota Mirai U.S. arrival

Nonetheless, Toyota plans to increase U.S. Mirai deliveries from 1,000 for the 2016 model year to 3,000 by the end of 2017, which will necessitate wider availability of the highly-compressed gaseous fuel.

In addition to Toyota, Hyundai leases its Tucson Fuel Cell in select areas of California, and Honda plans to launch its Clarity Fuel Cell in the state later this year.

MORE: Toyota Asks Some Of CA's 8 Mirai Dealers To Hold Off Deliveries

New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts all offer—or plan on offering—incentives for battery-electric cars, but Connecticut has also included fuel-cell cars in its incentive program.

The three states are part of an eight-state coalition working to put more zero-emission vehicles—both battery-electric and fuel—on the roads in their jurisdictions.

Along with California, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont, the goal is to have 3.3 million such vehicles on the road by 2025.

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