Hydrogen fuel cell cars
Honda, Nissan, and Toyota are partnering with 8 industrial companies to make a new push on hydrogen refuelling stations in Japan. The group wants to build eighty stations within the 1st 4 years of the partnership. That is expected to last a decade — with 9 in operation by March 2018. The plan would nearly double the 91 stations currently in the country.
Japan’s carmakers have made big strides with fuel-cell cars in recent times. Toyota introduced the Mirai, the 1st for the mass-market, in late 2014. While last year Nissan announced its plans to develop fuel-cell technology using plant-based ethanol. The Problem predicted, cost. A Mirai car prices 6.7 million yen ($59,000), that is nearly double the price of a comparable electric car. While hydrogen stations can cost as much as 500 million yen ($4.4 million) to build. As such, there are only about 2,200 fuel-cell cars in Japan.
The partnership, that also involves Tokyo Gas, oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan, gas maker Iwatani and the Development Bank of Japan. Aims to drive down the costs involved in building hydrogen stations. And must also bolster their lobbying power to push for looser regulations about the tech. The govt set a target in 2016 to increase the number of fuel-cell cars in Japan to 40,000 by March 2021. So with the industry otherwise stalling. This partnership maybe the catalyst needed to bring the technology mainstream.
