Japanese hydrogen expo previews the future

The launch this year of the world's first production fuel-cell car, the Toyota Mirai, has driven the accelerated growth of hydrogen refuelling station infrastructure development across Japan.

And the introduction of Toyota's fuel-cell passenger vehicle to the Japanese market has also served to focus unprecedented attention on this year's International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Expo at the Big Site complex on Tokyo Bay.

As part of Tokyo's annual Smart Energy Week, the Expo also coincided with PV Expo (Photovoltaic = Solar), Battery Japan Week, Wind Expo and the Energy Market Liberalisation Expo. Alternative energies are big business here.

Regarded as the planet's biggest expo of its type, the fuel cell expo drew some 1580 companies from around the world, participating in five days of lectures, demonstrations of future and existing technologies and test drives of fuel cell cars including the Mirai and Honda Clarity.

Senior engineers from Daimler, Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, Iwatani Corporation (energy co) and JX Nippon Oil and Energy updated the gathered industry types and media on the latest developments in fuel cells, hydrogen production and delivery systems and battery technology.

Gas company Taiyo Nippon Sanso Ltd revealed a world-first with its compact portable hydrogen station mounted onto the back of a 10-ton truck. Iwatani unveiled its new infra-red sensing hydrogen dispenser, Japan Air Liquide displayed its new complete hydrogen station supplying hydrogen to FC vehicles at 70 MPa, and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal announced its state-of-the-art stainless steel piping with twice the strength and safety as current tubing for hydrogen stations.

After relentless government lobbying by some of Japan's most influential energy companies, including JX Nippon Oil and Energy, Iwatani and Tokyo Gas, to create a fund to construct the necessary infrastructure for Japan's burgeoning hydrogen society, The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) agreed to meet the various companies' investments by contributing half of the development costs.

Government figures show that from 2013, METI's budgetary input has been increasing by 50 per cent each year from $50 million in 2013, to $77m in 2014 to a planned $118m this year. The lion's share of the resulting $240m-plus combined industry-government budget will be used to construct the proposed 45 hydrogen refueling stations nationwide by March 2016. With some 14 operational at present, one source reveals that the 18th station will be completed by March this year. One source at GM says that the government is making more funds available for hydrogen infrastructure.

The question begs. Why is Japan so aggressive in its adoption and development of hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars and the infrastructure to support it? Japanese car companies including Toyota, Nissan and Honda have been developing fuel cell cars for well over 10 years. But it was the earthquake, tsunami wave and resulting nuclear disaster in March 2011 that forced the government to shut down its 54 nuclear reactors and look for alternative forms of energy that stimulated car and energy companies to accelerate hydrogen-based technologies.

Up until early 2011, Japan's energy needs were split up into 20 per cent nuclear, 30 per cent coal and the remainder in oil and natural gas. To fill the gap created by the loss of nuclear energy, Japan started importing more oil which has led to higher energy (electricity) prices and higher C02 levels.

So the car industry, energy companies and government came to a collective realisation in late 2011 that diversifying its energy needs, and steering towards hydrogen, gives the country a way out of the higher energy costs and environmental issues.

The recent launch of the world's first hydrogen-powered fuel cell car in Japan, the Toyota Mirai has given added impetus and urgency to hydrogen infrastructure development. That is why the country is pushing ahead with plans to build at least 100 hydrogen refueling stations nationwide by the end of 2016.

To help meet the increasing demand for hydrogen, the Australian and Japanese governments have signed a deal to use Australian coal to produce liquefied hydrogen which is being loaded onto tankers and shipped to Japan.

But one issue remains – the spread of and interest in fuel cell cars. In the same way it will take time for energy companies and the government to build the necessary hydrogen infrastructure, indications are that it will take longer to capture the imagination of the motoring public away from petrol and diesel powered cars and onto fuel cell vehicles, especially given the price of a Toyota Mirai, which has a sticker price of $75,000 in Japan. Even with its $22,000 government subsidy, that's still an expensive proposition.