As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8, 2012

Registration No. 333-            

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

QUANTUM FUEL SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGIES WORLDWIDE, INC.

2011 STOCK INCENTIVE PLAN

(Full title of the plan)

W. Brian Olson, Chief Executive Officer

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc.

17872 Cartwright Road

Irvine, CA 92614

(949) 399-4500

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

The Commission is requested to mail signed copies of all orders, notices and communications to:

Kenneth R. Lombardo, Esq.

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc.

19500 Hall Rd., Suite 102

Clinton Township, MI 48038

Telephone: (586) 948-9534

Facsimile: (586) 948-9537

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

Part I — Information Required in the Section 10(a) Prospectus

Part II — Information Required in the Registration Statement

The Company hereby incorporates by reference into this registration statement the following documents:

All documents filed by the Company subsequent to the date of this registration statement pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment hereto which either indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all such securities then remaining unsold, shall also be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this registration statement and to be a part hereof from their respective dates of filing. Any statement in this registration statement, or in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated herein, shall be deemed to be modified or superseded to the extent that a statement contained in a subsequently filed document which is, or is deemed to be, incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this registration statement.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) permits a Delaware corporation, in its certificate of incorporation, to limit or eliminate, subject to certain statutory limitations, the liability of a director to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty, except for liability (i) for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) under Section 174 of the DGCL, or (iv) for any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. Article XI of the Company’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that no director of the Company shall be personally liable to the Company or its stockholders in accordance with the foregoing provisions of Section 102(b)(7).

Under Section 145 of the DGCL, a Delaware corporation has the power to indemnify directors and officers under certain prescribed circumstances and, subject to certain limitations, against certain costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, actually and reasonably incurred in connection with any action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, to which any of them is a party by reason of being a director or officer of the Company if it is determined that the director or the officer acted in accordance with the applicable standard of conduct set forth in such statutory provision. Article XI of the Company’s Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that any person who was or is made a party or is threatened to be made a party to or is otherwise involved in any action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or an officer of the Company or is or was serving at the request of the Company as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or of a partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, including service with respect to an employee benefit plan, whether the basis of such proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a director, officer, employee or agent or in any capacity while serving as a director, officer, employee or agent, shall be indemnified and held harmless by the Company to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL.

The Company has purchased directors’ and officers’ liability insurance covering certain liabilities which may be incurred by the officers and directors of the Company in connection with the performance of their duties. In addition, the Company has entered into indemnity agreements with its directors and certain of its executive officers that obligate the Company to indemnify such directors and executive officers to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL.

Insofar as the foregoing provisions permit indemnification of directors, officers or persons controlling the Company for liability arising under the Securities Act, the Company has been informed that in the opinion of the Commission, this indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

Not applicable.

An Exhibit Index immediately follows the signature page of this Form S-8.

(a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

Provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement.

(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

(b) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(h) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Irvine, State of California, on June 8, 2012.

POWERS OF ATTORNEY

AND

SIGNATURES

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints W. Brian Olson and Bradley J. Timon, and each of them, with full power to act without the other and full power of substitution, as his attorneys-in-fact and agents for him and in his name and on his behalf as a director and/or officer of Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. to prepare and sign any and all amendments, including post-effective amendments, or supplements to this registration statement on Form S-8, including any amendment to this registration statement for the purpose of registering additional shares in accordance with General Instruction E to Form S-8, and other documents (including any necessary amendments thereof) which such attorneys-in-fact, or either of them, may deem appropriate or necessary and to cause the same to be filed with the Commission.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated.

EXHIBIT INDEX