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" Toyota and Honda are arch rivals but they both shared the limelight yesterday as the world&amp;#039;s first hydrogen refueling station supplied by a pipeline opened in Torrance, California, within shouting distance of the two company&amp;#039;s U.S. headquarters buildings. To be fair the demonstration Shell Hydrogen Station is on land owned by Toyota but owners of cars from all manufacturers are welcome to use the now-public facility. The gas arrives via pipeline from a nearby refinery facility owned by Air Products, the company that maintains the station for Shell. Toyota test vehicles were the first ones to be filled as the station opened. However, an owner of a Honda FCX Clarity became the first retail customer to fuel a fuel-cell electric car at the station. Photographs from the grand opening show several cars from other companies, including Mercedes-Benz and General Motors. The Shell station in Torrance is adjacent to the nearby 405 freeway just a few miles south of LAX and becomes the seventh hydrogen station with public access in the greater Los Angeles area. Naturally, proponents of hydrogen fuel cell cars hope this technology will catch on but there will have to be many more fueling stations before it is practical to own one unless you never travel far from a station.  Ironically a few hours after this opening, and half way across the other side of Planet Earth in Kazakhstan, one of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELL cars traveling around the world was involved in what has to be one of the first &amp;quot;public&amp;quot; accidents involving a hydrogen fueled car. The Mercedes-Benz support crew were unable to repair the car on the spot so it was replaced with a backup car that has been following the convoy for the past 22,000 kms (13,670 miles) since the start of the marathon at the end of January in Stuttgart, Germany.      Related posts:  Enter to Win Free Shell V-Power Gas for a Full Year Electric Vehicle Industry Descends on Los Angeles Green Car of the Year: Who&amp;#039;s Going to Win? \u2013 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/news/a2306/shell-opens-first-pipeline-fed-hydrogen-gas-station-in-los-angeles-21905/>