In March 2019, Iwatani of America bought four hydrogen stations which had been operated by Messer in the State of California, and started to operate them as the first Japanese company to run hydrogen stations in the US.

The State of California has an emission control regulation called ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) to promote the diffusion of pollution-free vehicles, boasting the world-largest number of diffusion of about 5,600 FCVs (as of end-December 2018).
As there are only 39 locations of hydrogen station in the State as of the same month which account for one thirds of the number in Japan, further developments may well remain expectable in future.

Iwatani decided the acquisition of the station business in the USA on the ground that it could make the most of its abundant domestic experiences and also aim to accumulate the particular operating know-how of the American style such as self-service filling by drivers themselves.

Iwatani bought the stations located at four places in total in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Sacrament and two other locations near San Francisco. The three stations out of the four are of a parallel installation type with gasoline filling stands, and one station is expected fill hydrogen for 30 vehicles per day on the average. Liquid hydrogen is supplied to each station of the stationary off-site type. Accumulating know-how through the operation of the said stations, Iwatani intends to promote developments of more hydrogen stations in the US.