Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Toyota Motor Corp. Are starting cooperation. Shell will build seven fueling stations for hydrogen cars in California. California is planning to establish 100 retails for fill up the cars with hydrogen fuel cells, up to 2024.

Up to 2050 Toyota is planning to stop traditional production and close all lineups with fossil fuel-burning vehicles, and to rely completely on hydrogen. However a lot of things need to be done in the field of infrastructure. California for example, at the moment have just 25 stations.

Shell have the same plans, but at the moment they have only 6 hydrogen stations, four in Europe and two U.S., while seventh will be opened this month in  London. “Shell wants to be in the forefront of this technology,” said Oliver Bishop, general manager for hydrogen. The complexities of producing, storing and delivering the fuel necessitates “the support of governments and of car companies like Toyota to make it work.’’

Toyota sees hydrogen fuel cells as the future of the automotive industry

“When no more combustion of fuel is allowed, hydrogen will become one of the major sources of fuel, of that we’re confident,” said Kiyotaka Ise, Toyota’s president of advanced research and development and engineering.

The automaker’s long bet is that people will prefer cars like its Mirai — “the future” in Japanese — over plug-in electric models. The hydrogen-powered Mirai has a superior driving range and can be tanked up in three minutes — no hours-long charging involved. Only harmless water dribbles out of its rear end.

The fuel cell itself generates electricity by mixing hydrogen with oxygen, storing it in a battery and powering the motor just like any other Toyota hybrid. That means the only emission from the tailpipe is pure water. It periodically purges H2O from the system, and there’s even a button on the dash to get rid of it when you choose – to make sure it doesn’t drop out just as you pull into the garage at home.

The electric motor provides 152bhp and 335Nm of torque, but the bulky batteries, fuel cell and motor mean it weighs around 1,850kg. That translates to a 0-62mph time of 9.6 seconds and a top seed of 111mph. But don’t be fooled by the figures; the Mirai’s instant torque off the line means it feels more than fast enough.

“I’m sure at the current volume seen, even our friends or partners don’t fully believe in the actual realization,” Toyota’s Ise said. “But in 2020, we’ll try to convince them.”