Buying & Planning
Retrofit or New Construction?
Organize the building information that helps determine how a hydrogen bay can fit into your facility.
For facility owners, architects, contractors, and fleet planning teams.
Map the existing conditions
For an existing shop, assemble floor plans, ceiling and roof information, photographs, utility records, and access dimensions. Mark overhead doors, lighting, structural obstructions, occupied areas, and nearby workstations. Record existing conditions rather than assuming an open floor area is ready for a bay.
Plan the interfaces with the building
A bay connects to more than a parking space. Discuss structural support, exhaust routing and discharge location, make-up air, electrical supply, fire protection coordination, and equipment interlocks with the project team. These interfaces need to be evaluated together around the vehicles and service procedures.
Protect the maintenance workflow
Review entry and exit paths, staging areas, technician access, parts movement, and space for service equipment. Discuss how construction would affect an operating shop and whether the work needs to be phased. For a new building, include the bay requirements in the design discussion early.
Choose a configuration after the review
Curtain bays, solid enclosure walls, freestanding or building-supported arrangements, outdoor configurations, and other custom approaches may suit different projects. Feasibility depends on site conditions and local review. A retrofit is not automatically less complex than new construction; the first useful step is a coordinated facility assessment.
Your planning checklist
0 of 6 gatheredUse this to prepare a project discussion. Checked items are kept only while this page is open.
Hydrogen safety references and planning limits
For background on hydrogen properties, detection and facility safety, consult the resources below. These references do not approve a particular installation. Use the codes adopted by your jurisdiction, the approved project design and the vehicle manufacturer’s service procedures.
- U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen Program — safety resources
- H2Tools — hydrogen safety information and best practices
- NFPA 2 — Hydrogen Technologies Code information
Planning information from Hydrogen Service Bays, a specialty brand of Marathon Finishing Systems, Inc. About the manufacturer.