The Southern California Gas Co. Thursday announced that it has bought a fleet of Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, marking the company’s first purchase of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
With the purchase of 23 of the vehicles, the company plans to expand its fleet of HFCEVs to 50 next month, making SoCalGas among the first utilities in the nation to start transitioning to hydrogen, according to the company.
The addition of the HFCEVs represents a step towards decarbonizing SoCalGas’ fleet in support of its Net Zero 2045 climate goal, which includes replacing 50% of its over-the-road fleet with clean fuel vehicles by 2025 and operating a 100% zero-emission fleet by 2035, the utility said.
“California companies must work together in the fight against climate change,” said Senator Susan Rubio, D-West Covina. “The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in California and these types of efforts will help the state meet its climate goals.”
Sandra Hrna, vice president of supply chain and operations support at SoCalGas, said that each vehicle in the company’s light duty over-the-road fleet is driven an average of 10,000 miles per year.
“The zero-emissions Toyota Mirai HFCEVs have a driving range of 400 miles and since they run on hydrogen the only by-product is water,” Hrna said. “Transitioning some of our fleet to HFCEVs will help us reduce emissions, moving SoCalGas closer to our net zero goal and helping California reach carbon neutrality faster.”