Servco Pacific Inc. officials and Gov. David Ige broke ground today for the first publicly accessible hydrogen fueling station on Oahu.

The station located at Servco’s corporate offices in Mapunapuna, is set to be operational early 2018. The station’s hydrogen will be produced onsite by electrolyzing water, passing an electrical current through water causing it to split into hydrogen and oxygen.

At the event, Ige said the station will help advance Hawaii’s clean energy goals by enabling the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the state.

“The fact that we can get access to a hydrogen fueling station means that we can have more serious conversations,” he said. “I really do see today’s event as the beginning of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles here in Hawaii.”

Ige said the state plans to lead by example by looking at ways to adopt hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in and around the airport.

“We have been talking to tour companies about transitioning their fuel from fossil based,” he said. “We are looking at a wide variety of zero emissions clean energy vehicles.”

The Servco station will be able to produce enough for up to five full vehicle fill-ups per day.

While hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are emission-free similar to electric vehicles, the vehicle requires a shorter time at the pump. It takes five minutes to fill up a hydrogen fuel cell car, compared to the 8 hours it takes to fill up a Nissan Leaf from a Level 2 charger.