為取代汽柴油交通工具，歐美國家發展電動化，日本卻獨排眾議主張「氫能經濟」，來看看日本的戰略思維是什麼。
May 29, 2014 3:41 am JST
Japan aiming to become forerunner in fuel-cell cars
A Honda fuel-cell car at a solar-powered hydrogen station.
TOKYO -- The Japanese government is putting its full weight behind the promotion of fuel-cell vehicles, with Toyota Motor aiming to commercialize a fuel-cell car this fiscal year ahead of any other company.
In a fuel-cell vehicle, hydrogen stored in the tank reacts with oxygen from the air to generate electricity that powers a motor. Currently, only a few dozen to 100 fuel-cell cars are running in Japan, on an experimental basis. The government has been considering efforts to promote the technology, having positioned the commercialization of such vehicles in 2015 as part of its growth strategy.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to relax regulations on fuel tanks later this month. Under the new rules, hydrogen tanks can be filled to a maximum pressure of 875 atmospheres, up from about 700 now. This will allow vehicles to travel around 20% farther without refueling.
Toyota's to-be-released fuel-cell car will have a range of 600km, more than a typical gasoline-powered passenger automobile, making possible a trip from Tokyo to Osaka without refueling. The deregulation would put Japan on par with other countries that allow high-pressure hydrogen refueling.
Japan is also involved in talks with the United Nations, the European Union and others to simplify procedures for importing and exporting fuel-cell cars. The government intends to reflect in domestic laws in 2016 a treaty for recognizing safety inspections of other countries. This would make it easier to export fuel-cell cars built in Japanese factories.
Toyota is pressing ahead with development towards mass production of fuel-cell cars. It initially planned to bring fuel-cell vehicles to market in 2015, but it now intends to do so during the current fiscal year ending March 2015. Honda Motor plans to release its fuel-cell cars to the public in 2015. The only other company planning to commercialize fuel-cell cars in 2015 is South Korea's Hyundai Motor, so Japanese automakers are seen taking the early lead in this field.
(Nikkei)
目前氫燃料電池車的發展還遠遠落後於全電動車，在美國，第一輛商用氫燃料電池車，現代汽車的 Tucson 到 2014 年才上市，加州政府不得不出手，以政府力量協助推動氫燃料電池，特斯拉 CEO 穆斯克也認為鋰電池技術比燃料電池的理論最優性能還要好，競賽已經結束，不過日本政府不這麼認為，打算積極衝刺氫燃料電池。
據《日本經濟新聞》報導，日本政府打算全力推動國內產業發展氫燃料電池車，並且還把氫燃料電池車商業化，列為 2015 年經濟成長的總體策略之一。在實際的政策上，日本政府首先以放寬法規來幫助氫燃料電池車產業，原本日本政府規定氫燃料電池的氫氣槽儲存壓力不得高於 700 大氣壓，新規定提高到 875 大氣壓，將可增加 20% 的續航力。由於其他國家多半允許高壓氫儲存，日本政府放寬管制有助於日本車廠與其他國家的車廠競爭。
此外，日本政府也正在與歐盟及其他國家做貿易上的談判，希望簡化氫燃料電池車進出口的行政程序，與減少法規上的障礙，日本可能將於 2016 年立法承認其他國家的安全規定，換取能從日本工廠生產出口氫燃料電池車。
不過，目前整個日本，也只有不到 100 輛的氫燃料電池車，多半是實驗車。率先推出氫燃料電池量產車款的日本汽車大廠將會是豐田（Toyota），Toyota 即將推出的氫燃料電池車的續航力為加滿氫燃料可跑 600 公里，超過許多一般汽油車，這個距離可以在日本從東京開到大阪，途中不須加氫，Toyota 計畫在這個財務年度內，也就是 2015 年 3 月以前推出，而本田（Honda）的氫燃料電池車也將於 2015 年上市。
日本認為目前氫燃料電池車量產上市者不多，只有現代汽車是日廠唯一對手，所以日廠還算是有搶占市場先機，不過，氫燃料電池車的發展，不只是車廠推出新車，還仰賴整體大環境，如各國加氫站系統的完善，日本政府一頭熱推動，是否能得遂所願，還是終究計畫趕不上變化，突然重蹈過去許多失敗或不了了之的產業計畫的覆轍？或許日本政府力推氫燃料電池車政策成功與否，還得仰賴加州政府推動加氫站系統的「配合」了。
