Fuel cell vehicles: a global fleet of almost 130,000 units

Promotional content about fuel cell vehicles circulates widely in the sector. Mergal Shivaji's post describes how these vehicles work: an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, water vapour as the only tailpipe emission, fast refuelling, long range, and integration of stack, battery, power electronics and thermal management. The technical description holds. The market picture comes from an independent source.

The International Energy Agency, in the Global Hydrogen Review 2026, records that the global fuel cell electric vehicle stock grew 20% in 2025 to almost 130,000 units, driven by truck sales in China and a rebound in car sales in Korea. According to the IEA, policies in those two countries underpin a projected tripling of the stock by 2030, with trucks accounting for around 60% and buses around 30% of hydrogen use.

Almost 130,000 vehicles is a niche fleet, and the niche is heavy and captive: fixed routes, own depot, concentrated refuelling. That design exists because someone has to carry the refuelling station's operating and maintenance cost for years, and that only works with predictable volume.

For anyone assessing hydrogen in mobility in Brazil, the cut is by segment, not by technology: the numbers work first in trucks and buses with defined routes and depots.