Hydrogen Road Tour 2009 is over. H2RT is the second cross-country drive that provided thousands of people hands-on experience with fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen fuel.
A caravan of 13 fuel cell vehicles from seven automakers—Daimler, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen—set out from the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, on Tuesday, May 26. Congressman Bob Filner and County Supervisor Ron Roberts set the tone for the trip by teasing each other about who would get to San Diego first. US Olympic athlete Bob Walker waved the green flag and we were off!

The vehicles made 28 stops over nine days between Chula Vista and the finish line in Vancouver, BC. They filled a total of 190 times using existing stations and mobile refuelers from Air Products and Powertech. Together, the caravan drove nearly 23,000 miles, including miles for ride & drives and running errands in the evenings.

A few of the highlights included:

• Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s press conference at the Shell hydrogen station in Los Angeles
• Meeting Congressman Bob Costa in Fresno
• Big Ride&Drive events in Livermore, Redding, Portland, Bothell and Vancouver
• CaFCP’s 10th anniversary party
• Ribbon cutting at Linde hydrogen station at the San Francisco Airport, with participation from AC Transit and San Mateo County’s hydrogen-powered buses
• Introducing the new Clean Cities program in Medford
• A proclamation of “Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day” by Eugene mayor Kitty Piercy
• Meeting all the people involved in Washington’s new Green Transportation regulation
• Meeting Congressman Jim McDermott in Seattle
• The finish line event with Premier Gordon Campbell in Vancouver

Please visit the tour website at www.hydrogenroadtour.com to read the daily blogs from the participants and see pictures from every event. Join CaFCP’s mailing list, Facebook page and Twitter account to stay in the loop with future events and news.