Firms step on pedal for fuel cells in Japan

tokyo — Japan is backing a push for pollution-free vehicles that run on hydrogen and planning to build more hydrogen fueling stations so that fuel-cell vehicles on roads will grow to 40,000 by 2020, from the current handful.

The collaboration on fuel cells, announced on Friday, brings together 11 companies, including automakers Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor and Honda Motor, energy and gas companies and a bank.

Fuel cell vehicles are zeroemission, running on power produced when hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to create water. Now, only a handful of such vehicles are on the roads, partly because of the scarcity of hydrogen stations. The need for vehicles equipped with such futuristic technology is expected to grow because of concerns about pollution and global warming. —