Technology:
A fuel-cell vehicle
is scheduled to be put on the market for five million yen in 2015. Toyota is conducting the substantiative experiment to
drive a fuel-cell vehicle at such a low temperature as minus 10 degrees
centigrade in Hokkaido and in the Nevada desert in the U.S. The development is reportedly
in the final stage. Honda is working with Saitama Prefectural Government. The
project is to generate electricity by the solar batteries on the rooftop of the
government building and hydrogen by the electrolysis of tap water using power
that comes from the rooftop, the hydrogen produced is filled in a fuel-cell
vehicle. An engineer of the project said, “The fuel-cell vehicle technology is
no longer a technology of the future. It will surely be put to practical use in
two years.”
(Photo) A Saitama Prefectural Government official is conducting an experiment to create hydrogen by the electrolysis of tap water using electricity generated by solar batteries on the rooftop of the building.
A fuel-cell vehicle
attracted attention about 10 years ago, but it cost 10 million yen to build a
fuel-cell vehicle. Now technology developed quite rapidly, and various innovations
occurred. For example, a tank to store hydrogen is much stronger, smaller, and
lighter than one created 10 years ago thanks to the development of a technology
to coil a hydrogen tank with carbon fiber. Because the Japanese government is
considering supplying a subsidiary to the design of autobody, a fuel-cell
vehicle may be as low as four million yen.
A consulting firm predicts
that fuel-cell vehicles will account for 5% in 2025 and 10% in 2030 of all
vehicles and that the impact on the overall economy will be 2,700 billion yen.
In fact, various new industries related to the fuel-cell vehicle are going to
be established.
Fuel-cell vehicles displayed in the FC Expo 2013
Toyota's fuel-cell vehicle
Nissan's four-wheel fuel-cell vehicle Terra
Honda's fuel-cell vehicle runs on the public road
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