This Article copied from the Quebec Times
Eleven companies have recently signed a Memorandum of
Understanding to promote the spin-off of hydrogen distribution stations in
Japan. Some of the Japanese automotive industry – including Nissan and Toyota –
are among the signatories, which also rank as major financial and energy
groups.
40,000 new hydrogen vehicles by 2020
This Memorandum of Understanding is an extension of the ”
Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells” agreed by the Japanese
government last year. This plan includes the construction of nearly 160 public
hydrogen distribution stations by 2020. It also aims to put about 40,000 new
fuel cell vehicles on the road by this time. The targets of political leaders
are significant: the Japanese fleet of fuel cell cars is currently limited to
some 2,000 units. As for hydrogen fueling stations, there are only 90 of them
in a country with more than 61 million passenger cars (see also Tokyo, the
world capital of the hydrogen car ).
800 hydrogen filling stations within 10 years
To meet the expectations set out in the government’s
roadmap, partner companies want to build a common company. A strategy that aims
to reduce costs, but above all, to allow the creation of a large number of
distribution stations in a tight timeframe. And this, in order to elicit a
positive chain reaction of the Japanese consumers towards these vehicles.
According to the Nikkei, one of the major dailies of reference in Japan, the
Japanese government is currently considering an expansion of the objectives of
the roadmap. The Nikkei talks about a project to create 800 new distribution
stations in the next ten years. According to the paper, the country’s political
leaders also want the hydrogen fleet to reach 800,000 units by 2030 (see our
detailed Toyota Mirai test).
