Japan bets big on making fuel-cell cars a reality

Long term R&D. Simples.

We always hear talk about competition and the free market from neoliberals, such as Abe and his gang, but when it comes to his friends, he is very lavish with corporate welfare. Why can't these global multinational giants not make this investment fully themselves in this technology if it is going to be the future of the auto industry?

So you prefer we all live in smog for the next hundred years.

By the way, your tin foil hat is not environmentally friendly.

Good for national security too - no dependence on imported oil.

Toyota leads the way once again.

"So you prefer we all live in smog for the next hundred years."

The poster is pointing to the hypocrisy when wealthy and powerful corporations recording record profits need to have taxpayer money to fund their enterprises.

I propose Toyota and other recipients of corporate welfare issue bonds or shares that would go into our pension and other state social security funds, in exchange for all the govt handouts they receive on a regular basis.

@ReformedBasher

Where is the "reformed" part of your comment? As @JeffLee points out well, my comment was focusing on the corporate welfare aspect of this article. I did not say I was against this technology, though if we are really serious about human induced climate change and holding temperatures down, we would all invest in bicycles and bicycle infrastructure, not automobiles, even those with fuel-cells, as still huge energy goes into and pollution comes out of building these cars and the infrastructure (roads, parking lots, power-plants, waste-sites) that supports an auto-consumptive lifestyle.

Good for them, Japan automakers looking to the future as always, unlike other nations.

Good for national security too - no dependence on imported oil.

Most people have NO IDEA the utter dependence virtually every part of every economy is on fossil fuels.

For example, Ethanol, as it's produced in the states, takes MORE than one gallon of oil to produce ONE GALLON of ethanol.

I'd love to see how many barrels of oil it would take to produce ONE of these cars, or ONE of those charging stations.

This DOES sound promising, but it isn't likely anything other than a government boondoggle, and another excuse for the J-Govt to go much, much deeper in debt.

The whole concept of "Investing For The Future" sounds GREAT in theory, but not if you go absolutely broke in the "Investment" stage.

Most businesses FAIL because their "Investments" don't pan out.

The trouble with government investments is that they are ALWAYS with other people's money.

**I must confess and congratulation for bravely of Toyota Prius hybrid project to Toyota Company. It's very brave and encouraging for Company to develop Hybrid car to unknown market. I’ll always trust Toyota technology and quality and I drove Lexus. However, Toyota needs to rigid quality control on parts supply by third party.

I hope Toyota Fuel-Cell car project will success like Prius Hybrid project. I’m not electric car fan but I like Hybrid system. In the future, battery is becoming smaller and powerful and suitable to build powerful Hybrid Super Sport car. **

According to the Tax office Toyota the biggest car maker in the wold pays no Tax in Japan, but get Taxpayers money? See why they are the biggest now. Great idea but does the Government have to partially fund the project?

This is a course and direction that is flawed as it still requires carbon energy inputs to generate hydrogen.

Unless manufacturers can make energy out of pure water in situ, this does little to address global climate change and pollution...

This is a course and direction that is flawed as it still requires carbon energy inputs to generate hydrogen.

It depends on how you look at it. What is the point of coming up with a more efficient method of creating hydrogen if there is no method of using it to power vehicles? So they are coming up with fuel-cells that run on hydrogen, after which they can come up with more efficient methods of generating hydrogen.

@warispeace

As in I refrain from mindless bashing. Inventing conspiracies where there are none is a good example.

Try it, you might like it.

Hydrogen can be generated without burning carbon. There is rennewable energy as well as algae and even methane generated by animals. Some people should just chill.

Plus there ways to mitigate the carbon burning with filters and under ground storage. The Germans are doing it now.

StormRJun. 29, 2014 - 09:27AM JST

Toyota leads the way once again.

not really. Daimler ,Honda,BMW,Hyundai,VW ,Nissan all are also known for plans to introduce fuel-cell mass-production vehicles soon.

Japan and Japanese automakers are pursuing fuel cells because they don't want to compete in the electric car market, which is now more or less dominated by America. Tesla began selling in Japan this year after a couple of very successful years in America. It is no coincidence that Japan's first mass-market fuel cell car will be priced exactly $1000 below the Tesla model S, after government subsidies of course. If you are a Japanese company which can't compete in a free market, you can always count on the Japanese government to tilt the field in your favor.

I wish you good luck before big oil will derail your plans.

I wish you good luck before big oil will derail your plans.

Why would "big oil" interfere? They provide the fuel which makes energy to recharge electic car batteries, as well as providing the energy to create hydrogen fuel. If you are in an are without nuclear or hydroelectric power, your electric car may produce more Co2 than a regular gasoline-powered car. The irony is wonderful.

They did it with the Prius...they will do it with fuel cells...Toyota are the leaders in creating new engineering for the future.