As fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are increasingly put on
the market
and hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs) are built accordingly, fatal
accidents caused by explosion due to hydrogen leakage are reported
and have become a critical issue. The explosion results from complicated
processes associated with the so-called hydrogen jet and diffusion
when the hydrogen leaks from FCVs or HRSs, demonstrating its sophisticated
characteristics and presenting significant technical challenges. Recently,
particularly in the past a few years, researchers have established
a variety of theoretical models to reveal the relevant mechanisms
and introduced a series of monitoring/diagnostic approaches to detect
and control the relevant hazards. This comprehensive review summarizes
the major research outcomes and particularly the state-of-the-art
progresses in relation to hydrogen leakage in FCVs and HRSs, including
(1) subsonic jets, (2) underexpanded jets, (3) hydrogen diffusion
behavior, (4) hazard reduction methods for confined and free spaces,
(5) four types of widely used hydrogen detection technologies, and
(6) the application of hydrogen leakage diagnostic methods in different
systems. An insight of the review is that research on hydrogen leakage
related to FCVs and HRSs should be combined with the relevant realistic
characteristics. The characteristics of hydrogen jets generated in
real gaps are discussed, and hazard reduction methods are proposed
based on the characteristics of hydrogen diffusion in different confined
and free spaces. It is suggested that, in order to integrate and evaluate
multiple sensor data points and more accurately determine the leakage
location and the leakage level, artificial intelligence technologies
could be introduced to resolve the issues encountered currently.