Science
Lost Highway
In 2004, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced plans for a “hydrogen highway.” It called for a new kind of fuel station, built to support a new kind of electric vehicle. Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells could help clean up the air and free the US from foreign oil — and California could lead the way.
That’s not what happened. Twenty years later, the American auto industry is shifting overwhelmingly to electric vehicles… but they run on batteries, not hydrogen. The hydrogen highway is littered with shortages, high prices, and faulty equipment. Thousands of drivers across the state are left wondering whether they bet on the wrong future.
We wanted to find out what happened to California’s hydrogen dream.
So, we hit the road.
Our mission: a roughly 450-mile trip across California in a Toyota Mirai, the most popular hydrogen-powered car on the market today. We planned to drive around the Bay Area, down through Central California, and into Los Angeles, visiting as many stations and meeting as many drivers as possible along the way.
Bay Area
Milpitas
We rented a Mirai on Turo — it was one of only two available hydrogen-powered cars on the platform in the Bay Area. The car’s owner, Salman, told us he was concerned about our itinerary.
Cupertino
Manideep and Rupesh were the first fuel cell drivers we met. They’ve been driving their Mirai for about four months, and while they love the car, the fuel situation is wearing on them. They also had some advice for our road trip.
Sunnyvale
All the hydrogen pumps we saw were co-located at traditional gas stations; the hydrogen distributor leases the space from station owners. At some stations, hydrogen pumps were sandwiched between gas pumps.
Palo Alto
One pump we visited in Palo Alto has been offline for two years. The pump’s operator, FirstElement Fuel, told us that it took the pump over from a different hydrogen supplier but that systems issues have prevented it from bringing the station online.
South San Francisco
Earlier this year, Shell closed nearly all of its hydrogen stations across the state; there are no longer any active stations in the city of San Francisco. It’s put additional strain on the remaining Bay Area stations.
Oakland
Another Mirai driver we met, Rebecca, was committed to her car and more optimistic about the future of hydrogen.
San Jose
We needed to top off the tank before leaving the Bay Area. The final station we visited was online — but actually getting fuel was another story.
Along the I-5 corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles, there are hundreds of battery EV charging plugs — and one hydrogen pump. It’s at a place called Harris Ranch, a rest stop deep in California’s Central Valley. Since our Mirai wasn’t likely to make it all the way to SoCal on one tank, we stopped at Harris Ranch to refuel and see whether other hydrogen road trippers showed up.
Harris Ranch
Harris Ranch Resort
The Harris Ranch Resort is massive. In addition to a Shell gas station, Tesla Superchargers, and a hydrogen pump, it also boasts a Spanish hacienda-style hotel, multiple restaurants, and a gift shop with its own butcher counter.
Tesla Supercharger
The Harris Ranch Supercharger station is reportedly the largest bank of chargers ever built by Tesla. While waiting for hydrogen cars to show up, we wandered over and asked Tesla drivers about life with their battery-electric cars.
James Sweet Bonsai
James Kim has been selling bonsai trees for 23 years. His van is parked just across the street from the exit to Harris Ranch, and he says he gets customers from all over. His largest trees are more than 30 years old.
Hydrogen Fuel Station
After four hours of waiting, another Mirai finally showed up. Billy Chen has made the trip between LA and San Francisco several times — he’s the only driver we found who has.
Since September of 2023, 13 hydrogen stations in the Los Angeles area have been largely offline due to problems with a regional fuel supplier. The shortage has been a major headache for fuel cell drivers in LA — and there are more here than anywhere else in the state.
Los Angeles
San Fernando
The first station we reached in Southern California had four fuel pumps and was unaffected by the hydrogen shortage. Unsurprisingly, it was the busiest station we visited.
Sherman Oaks
There’s a concentration of hydrogen-powered cars here in LA, but the ecosystem is still exceptionally niche. In the first half of 2024, about 322 fuel cell cars were sold in California. At many stations, Mirai sightings were rare.
Burbank
We heard a similar story from lots of drivers: they were considering a battery-electric car but were talked into a Mirai. Many regretted the choice.
Studio City
Like in the Bay Area, there are very few stations in Southern California outside of Greater Los Angeles. So, road trips farther afield are risky.
Hollywood
As of publication, there is no estimate for when the hydrogen supply shortage in Southern California will be resolved, leaving stations like this one offline indefinitely. The shortage will hit the one-year mark in September.
Even if California’s hydrogen highway falls apart, fuel cell technology may still find its niche in a decarbonizing world. The Verge’s Andrew Hawkins dove into the world of hydrogen-powered trucks, boats, planes, and a lot more.
Science
NASA wants SpaceX and Blue Origin to deliver cargo to the moon
The agency wants Elon Musk’s SpaceX to use its Starship cargo lander to deliver a pressurized rover to the Moon “no earlier” than 2032, while Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will be tasked with delivering a lunar surface habitat no sooner than 2033. Both launches will support NASA’s Artemis missions, which aim to bring humans back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.
Both companies are developing human landing systems for Artemis missions — SpaceX for Artemis III and Blue Origin for Artemis V. NASA later asked both companies to develop cargo-hauling variants of those landers, capable of carrying 26,000 to 33,000 pounds of equipment and other materials to the Moon.
NASA says it will issue proposals to SpaceX and Blue Origin at the beginning of next year.
“Having two lunar lander providers with different approaches for crew and cargo landing capability provides mission flexibility while ensuring a regular cadence of Moon landings for continued discovery and scientific opportunity,” Stephen D. Creech, NASA’s assistant deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars program, said in the announcement.
Science
Brazil leads new international effort against climate lies
Brazil and the United Nations launched a new international effort to combat disinformation on climate change. They announced the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change during the G20 Leaders’ Summit taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It’s a collaboration between governments and international organizations to boost research on misinformation swirling online and around the globe that they fear could slow action on climate change. There isn’t much information available yet, but they say they’ll fund nonprofit efforts to counter that spread of lies.
“Countries cannot tackle this problem individually,” President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a press release.
“Countries cannot tackle this problem individually.”
Only Chile, Denmark, France, Morocco, the United Kingdom, and Sweden have joined Brazil in the initiative so far. Countries that make the commitment are expected to contribute to a fund administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The initial goal is to get more countries on board and raise $10 to 15 million over the next three years. The money is then supposed to be distributed to nonprofit organizations as grants to support research and public awareness campaigns on climate disinformation.
They haven’t yet named any specific groups they plan to work with; “calls for partnerships” are forthcoming. Some environmental organizations are already working together to study disinformation and push for measures to stop its spread, like the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition that publishes reports on misinformation trends and advocates for more stringent content moderation.
A webpage for the new global initiative says environmental disinformation is “increasingly spreading through social media, messaging apps, and generative AI.” That has “serious” consequences, it says: “it undermines scientific consensus, obstructs authorities’ ability to respond effectively to the crisis, and threatens the safety of journalists and environmental defenders working on the frontlines.”
FEMA employees faced violent threats on social media in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the US, for example. Accounts spewing misinformation about the storm and FEMA were also tied to content denying climate change, according to an analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) in October. Posts baselessly accused FEMA of seizing private property and confiscating donations — lies that risked deterring storm survivors from applying for assistance, and that raised fears that FEMA staff might face attacks.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also voiced his concerns during remarks today with both the G20 summit and a UN conference on climate change currently underway. “We must also take on climate disinformation,” Guterres said. “Our climate is at a breaking point.”
Science
Amazon and SpaceX attack US labor watchdog in court
Amazon and SpaceX are seeking to hamstring the National Labor Relations Board, asking a court to declare its processes for upholding labor law unconstitutional. But judges on a three-person panel appeared skeptical when the companies presented their arguments Monday.
In two separate cases before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the two companies argued that the NLRB is unlawfully forcing them to participate in administrative law proceedings over alleged anti-labor actions. The Amazon case centers around whether it’s required to bargain with the union at its JFK 8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, while the SpaceX case involves a charge by former employees who claimed they were fired after being critical of CEO Elon Musk.
A ruling in favor of the companies could undermine the NLRB’s power to enforce protections for workers. It comes just as vocal pro-union President Joe Biden is leaving office and deregulation-friendly President-elect Donald Trump takes over. Trump notably counts Musk among his chief allies after his massive fundraising push. The NLRB is an independent agency with five board members appointed by the president to 5-year terms.
During oral arguments, the judges mostly prodded attorneys on the finer points of the companies’ decisions to appeal, and the timeline of their objections. At one point, Judge James Graves Jr., an Obama appointee, expressed doubt that Amazon had even met the conditions for an appeal — suggesting it should have waited on the ruling from the district court first. Two days after Amazon’s notice of appeal, the district court denied Amazon’s request for a temporary restraining order on its NLRB proceedings.
Both companies are seeking to short-circuit the NLRB’s proceedings with a court order
George W. Bush-appointed Judge Priscilla Richman similarly pressed SpaceX’s counsel Michael Kenneally about why the company rushed to an appeal, rather than letting the case progress in a lower court. Kenneally said SpaceX waited as long as it felt it could to bring its challenge and accused the government of leaning on procedural arguments because it couldn’t defend the NLRB’s constitutionality. Graves appeared skeptical. “That sounds to me about like the argument that, ‘well, procedure doesn’t matter if I win on the merits, so just skip right over procedure,’” he said.
Both companies are seeking to short-circuit the NLRB’s proceedings with a court order, which requires demonstrating this would cause them irreparable harm. But in Amazon’s case, NLRB counsel Tyler Wiese called the company’s deadline for the district court “imaginary,” and said, “merely proceeding through an administrative process is not irreparable harm.”
Amazon and SpaceX both argue that the NLRB’s administrative proceedings are tainted because its board members or administrative law judges are unconstitutionally insulated from removal. They point to Article II of the Constitution, which says the president must “take care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” which they say includes removing officials.
Amazon also says the NLRB is violating the Seventh Amendment, which protects the right to a jury trial in certain civil cases. It argues that the NLRB shouldn’t be allowed to decide on financial remedies related to the case because it would deny the company due process. Cox said the board itself “improperly interfered with the [union] election by exercising its prosecutorial authority,” so failing to stop the proceedings would let the NLRB as as judge and prosecutor.
The NLRB says it feels confident in a 1937 Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act. “It is nothing new for big companies to challenge the authority of the NLRB to enforce workers’ rights so as not to be held accountable for their violations of the National Labor Relations Act,” NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said in a statement. “While the current challenges require the NLRB to expend scarce resources defending against them, we’ve seen that the results of these kinds of challenges is ultimately a delay in justice, but that ultimately justice does prevail.”
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