“Vancouver is awesome” Can you imagine jumping in a car in Vancouver that produces zero harmful emissions – no exhaust spewing out the back, just fresh clean water – and heading off into the sunset completely secure in your ability to get wherever you need to go?”

No fossil fuel to burn. No need to worry about finding a plug-in for a battery, or an eight-hour wait while it recharges. Just drive off to Kelowna or Kamloops or Prince George or Victoria, pollution-free, and refuel in a matter of minutes whenever you need to.

Proponents of hydrogen cars – which combine hydrogen from a tank with oxygen from the atmosphere in a fuel cell to run electric motors – argue that this could be the transportation of the future, eliminating the harmful exhaust from internal combustion engines and removing the limitations on electric vehicles due to battery size and charging time.

Last week UBC researchers published a study in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy in which they developed a “roadmap” for a hydrogen supply chain that would enable the adoption of hydrogen-powered cars throughout the most populous areas of British Columbia over the next 30 years.

“Hydrogen-powered vehicles are a strong alternative to battery electric vehicles, which don’t always comply with fast-refuelling, long-distance travel or cold weather requirements,” stated lead author Hoda Talebian, a PhD candidate in the department of mechanical engineering at UBC, in a media release. “We believe we have created the most comprehensive model for hydrogen adoption in a region like B.C., where demand is still low for these types of vehicles.”

“This optimization model designed the least expensive hydrogen supply chain for British Columbia,” she said. “Basically this model finds the least expensive way to develop production plants, the transportation network, storage facilities and all the fuelling centres around B.C.”

The study recommends a refuelling infrastructure extending from Victoria and Vancouver to Kamloops and Kelowna and up to Prince George. This isn’t all theoretical either: one hydrogen refuelling station is already operational in Vancouver, with four more in the Lower Mainland and one in Victoria expected to be operational by 2020. That network of six initial refuelling stations includes one at the Westview 7-11 in North Vancouver which is already under construction.

Hydrogen cars are also now available – the Toyota Mirai, Hyundai Nexo and Honda Clarity all are in various stages of production and sales – although it’s not so easy for members of the B.C. public to get their hands on one just yet. Talebian estimates that there are still just a handful of hydrogen-powered cars cruising the street of British Columbia now. That, however, will almost certainly change in the near future. The B.C. government has mandated that by the year 2040, all new vehicles sold in the province must be zero emissions.

Other government policies such as the carbon tax and low carbon fuel standard are pushing the move to cleaner fuel sources, according to the UBC study.

“The momentum for hydrogen vehicles is growing, and B.C. is leading developments in Canada by providing supports like car sales rebates and incentives for building fuelling stations,” senior study author Walter Mérida, an engineering professor at UBC, stated in a media release.

“We do see a future where hydrogen can be economically competitive with gasoline, while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This study is part of a broad, multidisciplinary effort on the future of transportation. As the energy system becomes smart and decarbonized, hydrogen will become a critical bridge between renewable energy and transportation.”