SAN FRANCISCO -- Bay Area drivers could soon be pulling up to a new kind of fueling station and pumping hydrogen into their cars instead of gasoline.

California is taking a big step forward with plans to build a “hydrogen highway” across the state. The plan calls for creating a network of hydrogen fueling stations for clean-air vehicles.

One of the stations will be built at the San Francisco International Airport.

San Francisco Airport's director John Martin announced the plan at the site of the future station, just a block away from Highway 101and will replace an empty lot on South McDonnell Road at Millbrae Avenue.

"SFO will have the first public access fueling complex offering both pure hydrogen and hydrogen blend or Hythane," Martin said.

The hydrogen fueling station will be open to the public. SFO spokesman Mike McConnell says the station also will service a new fleet of 27 Hythane powered shuttle buses which SFO expects to purchase by the end of the year. Hythane is a blend of 20% hydrogen and compressed natural gas.

Funding for the $3.7 million dollar station includes a $1.7 million grant from the California EPA's Air Resources Board. The Board is supplying a total of $14.4 million statewide to help build seven hydrogen fueling sites including SFO and a station in Emeryville.

The question is will consumers buy into the new technology?

Hydrogen powered vehicles have zero emissions and some models can reach speeds up to 100 miles an hour with a range of 500 miles. Most have electric motors that are powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

To promote the vehicles, a coalition of automakers took their models on the road this month on a 1,700 mile Hydrogen Tour along the West Coast. The tour stopped at SFO and Livermore as it made its way from Chula Vista, California to Vancouver.

The Hydrogen Tour featured eleven hydrogen-fuel vehicles from automakers General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen.

"These are efficient, clean vehicles that have zero emissions and use hydrogen to make electricity that drives the electric motors of these vehicles," said Patrick Serfass, Vice-President of the National Hydrogen Association.

In Livermore, residents could take the vehicles out on test drives.

Many people said the cars were surprisingly quiet and powerful. Most were attracted to the fuel-efficiency.

"It would get us off importing fuel from foreign countries. It's fuel independence," said Larry Goltz of Livermore.

Automakers hope to have the vehicles in showrooms for sale within the next 3 to 5 years.

In the meantime, California's budget crisis could put the brakes on future spending for the Hydrogen Highway. The state has spent $24.4 million so far to help with construction and development of fueling stations and vehicles, but much more investment will be necessary to create the statewide network of stations that would allow drivers to travel from point to point without worrying about refueling.

State officials say the funds are being used to match private funding sources, which encourages investment.

"Ultimately, the private sector is going to fund the transition," says Anthony Eggert, a senior policy advisor to the California Air Resources Board. "The state's just in this to be able to help the technologies get to the point of market readiness."

That market readiness will get its first test soon in the Bay Area.

The SFO hydrogen fueling station is expected to open in six months, with full completion sometime in 2010.