Easy Come, Easy Go. Culver City is no more.

 
So the Culver City location for Shell Hydrogen has been shuttered.  Apparently, and this is all unsubstantiated speculation and assumptions on my uninformed end, Shell just could not find it fiscally prudent to continue investing in the hydrogen superhighway, particularly at this location.  Situated strangely in between a standard Shell gas station and Interstate 405, this parcel of useless land the size of a medium-range trade show booth will be relegated back to... well I'm not quite sure what it could be used for.

To wax nostalgia and out of actual necessity, I went to the Shell Hydrogen station on December 31st, 2011 for one last fill up before ringing in the new year, a new year without a 700 BAR filling station anywhere in greater Los Angeles.  As I stood looking at the plot of land which currently contains the filling dispenser, the hydrogen tanker, the refrigeration unit and the gas necessary to power the refrigeration unit, I imagined what other potential use could come of this property.

Despite its "prominent" location near the corner of Venice Blvd and Sepulveda Blvd, the fact that this property is sandwiched in between the elevated highway on one side, a lovely alley with car repair shops behind it and the regular Shell station on the other, one can only scratch their head as to what the property could be used for.  The land is too small for fast food, or any retail for that matter due to the need for required parking.  It isn't big enough for a smog check station or a drive up oil change business either.  

But realistically, it has nothing to do with the actual land utilization I would imagine.  It had everything to do with the ongoing fixed costs of supplying hydrogen from the station and the operating expenses of maintaining the equipment, and the human resources required in the maintenance.  And assuming the property isn't owned by Shell or a franchisee, the lease expense of the property itself.  Any accountant would say it was prudent to walk away from this experiment and write off all the losses to date and not accrue any new ones going forward into the new fiscal year. 

Some would certainly call Shell Hydrogen Culver City a waste of capital, as where others would call it an investment in sustainable fuel and a study in maintaining Shell's continued relevance in automotive energy.  Regardless of which way you see, the cold hard fact is that this Hydrogen Station is no more.

The hardware is being "donated" to the University of California campus up the street in Westwood, dumped by Shell for a mere $10 to a state funded public University, who has received public subsidies to implement and operate a new station on their campus.  Once again, the State of California is required to take the initiatives, as where private enterprise, specifically petroleum companies, have failed to make the necessary continued investments.