Japan's laws pose roadblocks to hydrogen cars, say automakers

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Japan, the home of the Toyota Prius hybrid, would seem to be the ideal launch pad for a range of environmentally-friendly vehicles.

However, overseas automakers say bureaucratic red tape and costly certification procedures are stalling their plans to export hydrogen cars to the nation.

General Motors (GM) and Mercedes-Benz have been in protracted talks with Japanese officials to conduct local test drives of their latest fuel cell cars. The sticking point lies in the fact that Japan lacks a legal framework governing 700-bar high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks, although regulations exist for 350-bar systems.

Automakers seeking to bring in 700-bar tank cars need to submit comprehensive data to be used for a series of safety tests in order to obtain certification – a process estimated to cost more than $1m.

“There is nowhere else in the world that requires this amount of money for a test vehicle,” Masanobu Wada, managing director of the Japan Automobile Importers Association, told Kyodo news agency earlier this week.

Domestic carmakers have either stumped up the cash and data, or turned to smaller models to get their hydrogen vehicles on the road.

Toyota has received approval to test drive its 700-bar FCHV-adv hybrid fuel cell SUV after undergoing the rigorous and expensive certification process.

Meanwhile, the 350-bar FCX Clarity by Honda – one of hydrogen’s biggest proponents – is available for lease in Japan. The automaker plans to make 200 Claritys available in Japan and the US in the next two years.

Fuel cell cars with 700-bar systems can travel roughly double the distance of their 350-bar counterparts on a full tank – a significant advantage, especially given the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations in most countries.

For example, Toyota’s 700-bar FCHV-adv has a maximum cruising range of 830km on a full tank of hydrogen, compared to the 434km from Honda’s 350-bar FCX Clarity. However, the safety of cars with the larger capacity system is a major concern for Japan.

The nation did not plan to limit cars with 700-bar tanks indefinitely, Yasushi Takahashi, chief officer at the government-affiliated research body New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, told Kyodo.

However, test drives would “come to an immediate halt if an accident occurs, so we need to be cautious in that sense”, he said.

Japan's laws pose roadblocks to hydrogen cars, say automakers - 15 Oct 2009 - BusinessGreen.com