Mobile hydrogen station in California refuels 45 trucks in its first week

At Tom's Truck Center in Santa Fe Springs, just southeast of Los Angeles, a hydrogen refuelling station has been operating since late July that could in principle be driven away again. Hyroad Energy installed a mobile unit with a thousand-kilo liquid hydrogen tank, complete with pump, dispenser, controls and safety systems in a single package.

In its first full week it handled 45 refuellings. Refuelling times stayed consistently under 25 minutes — comparable to filling a diesel tank, and that is precisely the point the sector wants to prove.

"Every station we bring online, mobile or permanent, is proof to the industry that the fuelling side of this equation is solvable now," says Mike Archibald, head of hydrogen infrastructure at Hyroad Energy.

Why mobile

The reasoning behind a movable station is straightforward: building a permanent heavy-duty station takes years of permitting and construction, while the trucks are already here. A mobile unit bridges that gap. It can sit where demand is, move when demand shifts, and step aside once the permanent installation is ready.

The equipment comes from Taylor-Wharton, part of Air Water America. "Our partnership shows what is possible when parties work together on one of the biggest challenges facing hydrogen: fuelling availability," says Aaron Villarreal, who leads global hydrogen sales at Taylor-Wharton.

The approach is not unique to California. In northern Germany a mobile station put the hydrogen buses of Weser-Ems-Bus on the road in much the same way, while the permanent facility was still under construction.

From Nikola to Hyroad

Hyroad Energy is a young company from Austin, Texas, founded in 2023, that has quickly taken a central role in American hydrogen trucking. When truck manufacturer Nikola filed for Chapter 11 in February 2025, Hyroad bought its fuel cell business at auction that August: over a hundred Nikola Tre Class 8 tractors, spare parts, software and intellectual property. Part of the team behind HYLA, Nikola's refuelling division, came along too.

The company services and repairs that fleet from a site in Fontana, California, with a warehouse of around 2,800 square metres of Nikola parts. Its business model centres on Trucking-as-a-Service: leasing, maintenance, software and fuel in one package, so a haulier does not have to assemble the whole chain itself.

Southern California as proving ground

The Santa Fe Springs station is part of a network Hyroad is building across California and Texas. Five stations are planned: three in the Los Angeles region and two in Houston.

That choice is deliberate. Around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach runs a large fleet of container tractors on short, intensive trips — exactly the work where fast refuelling and a full day's shift matter more than the lowest cost per mile.

At ACT Expo earlier this year, Toyota and Hyroad announced they would jointly deploy forty fuel cell trucks in Southern California. Those trucks carry up to 70 kilos of hydrogen, cover roughly 800 kilometres on that and refuel in fifteen to twenty minutes. Toyota supplies hydrogen through its network in Ontario, California, and contributes two mobile liquid hydrogen units; Hyroad adds a third.

What can be learned from it

The figures from Santa Fe Springs are modest — 45 refuellings is no breakthrough. What is more interesting is what it shows about sequence. Hydrogen trucking runs into the same chicken-and-egg problem everywhere: hauliers wait for refuelling points, station builders wait for trucks. A movable station costs less and arrives faster, which means that deadlock can be broken before any concrete is poured.

In brief

• Mobile liquid hydrogen station at Tom's Truck Center in Santa Fe Springs, California, in service since late July 2026
• 1,000 kg liquid hydrogen tank with integrated pump, dispenser, controls and safety systems
• First full week: 45 refuellings, times consistently under 25 minutes
• Equipment from Taylor-Wharton (Air Water America); site provided by Tom's Truck Center
• Operator: Hyroad Energy of Austin, Texas, founded in 2023
• Hyroad bought bankrupt Nikola's fuel cell business in August 2025, including over a hundred Tre Class 8 tractors and the HYLA expertise
• Five stations planned: three around Los Angeles, two in Houston
• With Toyota, forty fuel cell trucks are being deployed in Southern California: up to 70 kg of hydrogen, around 800 km, refuelling in 15 to 20 minutes

Sources

• Hyroad Energy – Hyroad Energy deploys hydrogen refueling station, enabling fuel access for Southern California trucking fleets (29 July 2026)
• PR Newswire – Hyroad Energy press release on the Santa Fe Springs station
• Clean Trucking – Hyroad emerges as leader in hydrogen trucking post-Nikola
• Clean Trucking – Toyota and Hyroad Energy build hydrogen trucking ecosystem
• Bulk Transporter – Hyroad deploys mobile liquid hydrogen fueling station in SoCal