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Hydrogen refuelling station (HRS)

Screening levelized cost of dispensing (EUR/kg) at a 350/700 bar hydrogen refuelling station fed with delivered H2.

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Open Jack

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Dispensed cost

Dispensed cost (levelized cost of dispensing)

EUR/kg added at the station gate (excludes delivered-H2 commodity)

…EUR/kg

CAPEX + O&M component of dispensed cost

Fixed-cost contribution per kg (drops as utilisation rises)

…EUR/kg

Energy component of dispensed cost

Station electricity contribution per kg

…EUR/kg

Real discount rate used to compute the capital recovery factor (DOE station basis: 8%).

Station analysis period for levelized costing (DOE station basis: 10 years).

years

Yearly fixed O&M as a fraction of station CAPEX (maintenance, parts, service).

1/year
Sensitivity to utilisation

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Throughput

Design (peak) daily fuelling capacity. Sizes the station equipment (compression, storage, dispensing).

Fraction of nameplate capacity actually dispensed over the year. Early-market HRS run far below nameplate.

Station capacity (nameplate)

Design daily fuelling duty that sizes the equipment

…kg/day

Annual dispensed hydrogen

Actual yearly throughput at the chosen utilisation

…kg/year

Light-duty fills per year

Indicative number of 4 kg light-duty fast-fills served

…fills/year

Equivalent full-capacity days per year

Operating intensity used to annualize throughput

…day-equivalents/year

Station energy

Station electricity to compress H2 to fast-fill pressure (HDSAM ~3.0 kWh/kg to 880 bar; demo sites 1.7-6.4).

kWh/kg

Station electricity to pre-cool H2 to -40 C for SAE J2601 T40 fast-fill (HDSAM ~0.2 kWh/kg).

kWh/kg

Station specific energy (compression + pre-cooling)

Station own electricity per kg dispensed

…kWh/kg

Effective specific energy

Station SEC adjusted by a part-load penalty

…kWh/kg

Part-load penalty factor

Screening adjustment of station energy at low utilisation (neutral by default)

…factor

Delivered electricity price to the station (EU non-household H2 2024 ~0.1629 EUR/kWh excl. taxes).

EUR/kWh

Annual station electricity cost

Compression + pre-cooling electricity over the year

…EUR/year
Sensitivity to electricity price

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CAPEX

Installed station equipment cost per unit of daily capacity (DOE capital equipment basis, already installed).

EUR/(kg/day)

Scaled specific station CAPEX

Installed cost intensity after scale curve and clamps

…EUR/(kg/day)

Equipment purchase cost

Station package cost at the scaled specific CAPEX

…EUR

Total station CAPEX (all-in)

Installed cost incl. indirect/owner factors (zeroed: DOE basis already installed)

…EUR

Annualized CAPEX (CRF-based)

Station CAPEX converted to an annual payment equivalent

…EUR/year

Annual fixed O&M

Maintenance and service as a fraction of station CAPEX

…EUR/year

Total annual station cost

Annualized CAPEX + O&M + electricity

…EUR/year

CAPEX breakdown: compression share

Indicative allocation within total station CAPEX

…EUR

CAPEX breakdown: buffer/cascade storage share

Indicative allocation within total station CAPEX

…EUR

CAPEX breakdown: pre-cooling & dispensing share

Indicative allocation within total station CAPEX

…EUR
Scale effect vs station size

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About

Calculator context

Screening levelized cost of DISPENSING at a 350/700 bar hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) that receives H2 already delivered on-site (gaseous tube trailer or liquid tanker). It prices only the station-gate conversion duty — compression, buffer/cascade storage, pre-cooling and dispensing — NOT the delivered-H2 commodity nor production. This is the integrated end-use dispensing asset, distinct from bulk storage, standalone compression and production. The model sizes equipment on the nameplate fuelling duty (kg/day), annualizes station CAPEX with a capital recovery factor, adds fixed O&M and station own-electricity (compression + pre-cooling), and divides by annual dispensed mass to give the EUR/kg added at the nozzle. Cost basis follows the DOE HDSAM / Hydrogen Program cost records (8% discount, 10-year station period); the delivered-H2 purchase price is intentionally excluded and should be added at project level to obtain the full nozzle price. SAE J2601 T40 fast-fill, 4 kg/fill light-duty assumptions underlie the throughput and pre-cooling figures.

Model

51 variables — inputs, calculations and outputs, with their dependencies.

51 variables shown of 51
VariableValueUnitDepends on
1000kg/day—
70%—
2000EUR/(kg/day)—
0.041/year—
3kWh/kg—
0.2kWh/kg—
0.17EUR/kWh—
0.08ratio—
10years—
VariableFormulaUnitDepends on
if((<=0)+((*0.01)<=0)+((*0.01)>)+(<=0)+(<0)+(<0)+(<0)+(<0)+(<0)+(<=0)>0,1,0)bool
*(/max(,))^(-)EUR/(kg/day)
*(+)EUR
if(<,/max(,),(*(+)^)/max((+)^-,))—
VariableFormulaUnitDepends on
*kg/day
*(*0.01)day-equivalents/year
clamp(+*(-(*0.01)),,)factor
+kWh/kg
*kWh/kg
**(*0.01)kg/year
/max(,)fills/year
clamp(,,)EUR/(kg/day)
*EUR
*(+)EUR
*EUR
*EUR
*EUR
*EUR/year
*EUR/year
**EUR/year
++EUR/year
*EUR/kg
(+)/max(,)EUR/kg
/max(,)EUR/kg

Assumptions

18 assumptions used in the calculations

  • Prevents division-by-zero and NaN propagation in edge cases.

    Market range Not applicable (numerical parameter).

    0.000001
    Numerical stability constant for division guards.

  • Avoids inline literals in DSL expressions per spec.

    Market range Exact.

    1
    Numeric constant.

  • Annualizes daily dispensing throughput.

    Market range 365 (non-leap); 366 (leap year).

    365day/year
    Calendar-year days convention.

  • Lets users explore higher station energy at low utilisation without distorting the grounded nominal case.

    0
    Screening utilisation/part-load penalty coefficient.

  • Prevents the penalty factor from dropping below 1.

    Market range 1 (by definition).

    1
    Clamp lower bound for the penalty factor.

  • Avoids unrealistically large penalties at low utilisation in a screening model.

    1.4
    Clamp upper bound for the penalty factor.

  • Represents the mild economies of scale of modular fuelling stations.

    0.9
    Scale exponent for station specific CAPEX.

  • Provides a consistent anchor for scaling specific CAPEX with station size.

    1000kg/day
    Reference station size for the scale curve.

  • The grounded specific CAPEX already includes installation, so no extra installation factor is applied.

    Market range 0 here; 0.2-0.5 only if starting from a bare-equipment cost.

    0
    Installation factor on equipment cost (zeroed by design).

  • Indirect and owner costs are already embedded in the installed DOE figure.

    Market range 0 here; 0.1-0.4 only if starting from a narrower cost boundary.

    0
    Indirect/owner factor on installed cost (zeroed by design).

  • Compression is typically the largest single station cost section.

    0.45
    Station CAPEX allocation share (compression).

  • Buffer and cascade storage is a major station cost section.

    0.3
    Station CAPEX allocation share (storage).

  • Pre-cooling and dispensing equipment make up the remaining station cost.

    0.25
    Station CAPEX allocation share (pre-cooling + dispensing).

  • Converts annual dispensed mass into an indicative number of light-duty fills.

    4kg/fill
    Mass dispensed per light-duty fast-fill.

  • Lower bound of the DOE installed station cost band.

    1200EUR/(kg/day)
    Clamp minimum for scaled specific station CAPEX.

  • Upper bound of the DOE installed station cost band.

    3000EUR/(kg/day)
    Clamp maximum for scaled specific station CAPEX.

  • Documents the measured field average behind the compression energy default.

    3.1kWh/kg
    Measured average station compression specific energy.

  • Documents the typical deployed station capacity for context.

    1240kg/day
    Average California station capacity.

Sources

Primary reference

DOE Hydrogen Program Records 20007 (Delivery & Dispensing Cost, HDSAM) and 21002 (Fueling Station Cost); cross-checked vs E3S 312/07010 HRS cost model