Ten Japanese energy companies committed today to build up to 100 hydrogen stations in four Japanese cities to support commercial sales of fuel cell vehicles from Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Other automaker news shows fuel cell vehicles are driving back into spotlight.

(Washington, DC - January 13, 2011). Ten Japanese energy companies committed today to build up to 100 hydrogen stations in four Japanese cities to support commercial sales of fuel cell vehicles from Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Early volumes are expected to be in the thousands of vehicles. Coupled with major announcements from Toyota and Mercedes-Benz at the Detroit Auto Show, the announcement underscores that the fuel cell vehicle has driven right back into the spotlight, this time as part of a portfolio of advanced electric vehicles.

The Japanese companies said their action was a response to upcoming stricter government regulations to reduce CO2 emissions in the transportation sector in Japan. The announcement was made at the office of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The first stations will be deployed Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka and expand nationwide as vehicles are deployed.

In other fuel cell vehicle news:

Toyota plans to place more than 100 Toyota Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle - Advanced (FCHV-adv) vehicles on the roads over the next three years in California and New York at universities, private companies and government agencies. More regions and partners will be added as the program progresses.

Mercedes-Benz, which just delivered 20 B-Class F-CELLS to the U.S. Department of Energy and plans to begin leasing 70 vehicles in California in the next year, made a big splash at the Auto Show by announcing the upcoming F-CELL World Drive. The 125-day excursion will drive its F-CELLs through 14 countries and four continents.

Hyundai recently completed development of its third-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Tucson ix Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) which can travel 400 miles before refueling and can start in temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius. Hyundai will begin testing the vehicle next year to begin mass production in 2015.

Volkswagen successfully completed the first long-range test drive of its brand new Jetta HY.POWER fuel cell vehicle. The vehicle was tested in the middle of the winter on the 6,578-foot Simplon Pass connecting Switzerland and Italy.

For more information about any of these announcements, fuel cell vehicles, recent developments or fuel cells in general, please contact Fuel Cells 2000.