Volkswagen: Hydrogen Will Struggle Outside of Japan

by Cameron Aubernon

September 9th, 2014 9:00 AM

volkswagen hydrogen will struggle outside of japan

While Toyota and the administration of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are going all in on hydrogen, Volkswagen Group Japan President Shigeru Shoji proclaims FCVs will struggle to make headway elsewhere.

According to Bloomberg, Shoji says the government subsidies meant to push Toyota’s Mirai and other FCVs into the marketplace are likely too high for other governments to match. He adds that issues surrounding refueling infrastructure and the handling of hydrogen itself will add to the roadblocks awaiting the technology outside of Japan.

Those comments — echoing sentiments by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other hydrogen skeptics — aren’t lost on either Toyota or the Abe administration. Company representative Dion Corbett says the subsidies are needed to help get hydrogen off the ground, citing the high cost of developing fuel-cell technology. That said, Dion believes demand will not only be the highest in Japan — where Abe envisions a “hydrogen society” of fuel-cells for homes and businesses as well as cars — but in Germany, California and the U.S. East Coast.

Though Volkswagen has its doubts, VW Japan representative Yasuo Maruta says the company is keeping its eye on Toyota’s efforts, planning to be no more than three years’ behind R&D work in relation to Toyota.

#FCVs #FuelCellTechnology #GlobalMarkets #GovernmentIncentives #Hydrogen #MarketAcceptance #ShigeruShoji #ShinzoAbe #TechnologyAdoption #Toyota #Volkswagen

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11 of 35 comments

TW5 on Sep 09, 2014

Hydrogen will struggle outside of Japan because other nations have enough conventional supplies to avoid making changes. The underlying economic phenomenon has existed for centuries, and it motivated Japan to be the world leader in hybrid-gasoline technology, a role Honda inexplicably relinquished after the Gen 1 Insight. I wouldn't bet against Japan. They have to make hydrogen work. They don't have fossil fuels. They don't have enough arable land to grow biofuels. They don't like importing nuclear materials or nuclear technology. They don't have the necessary resources for domestic battery production, and they don't like bargaining with China for access to rare-earth metals. Necessity is the mother of invention.

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- Jacob_coulter on Sep 09, 2014
  
  But where is the hydrogen going to come from? If over 90%+ of hydrogen comes from fossil fuels, how is it any different than simply importing fossil fuels? If you're going to create hydrogen by an expensive process like electrolysis, it's going to require massive amounts of electricity to produce. If Japan moves away from nuclear power, how will the electricity be produced? The answer always seems to go back to fossil fuels, you're just moving the chain of production and creating a lot of extra steps so you don't have the visual of emissions coming out a car tail pipe.
  
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- TW5 on Sep 09, 2014
  
  @jacob_coulter The earth is bombarded with more energy than humanity could ever use, and we have more hydrogen atoms, stored as water, than we can ever use. Scientists are hoping to harness the energy for artificial photosynthesis (direct to hydrogen technology) to split water. I don't know the specifics of the science, but like I said, necessity is the mother of invention.
  
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- Brett Woods on Sep 11, 2014
  
  Could they drill into a volcano and boil water that way?
  
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HerrKaLeun on Sep 09, 2014

Hydrogen will struggle wherever the laws of Thermodynamics apply.

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- SCE to AUX on Sep 09, 2014
  
  In politics, they don't.
  
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- Brandloyalty on Sep 09, 2014
  
  Exactly. Not to mention the lack of infrastructure, the difficulty of containing the stuff, and the consequences when it escapes and ignites. By comparison, the infrastructure for charging ev's is already mostly in place (although relatively minor upgrading such as home chargers is needed), it is relatively easy to contain, and it isn't terribly hazardous. And it avoids the conversion losses laundering the energy through hydrogen.
  
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- Stuki on Sep 09, 2014
  
  @brandloyalty Unless almost the entire Japanese scientific community have collectively decided to go completely insane this time (And with Abenomics, honestly who knows.....), I can't help but think they have good reason to believe all the problems we keep citing with hydrogen, still pales in comparison with continuing the pace of growth in energy density/usability of more conventional batteries. It's not as if Japanese electronics giants with just as good access to Tokyo as the automakers, aren't at the cutting edge of battery tech. I just have a problem seeing how this one makes sense. Perhaps battery improvements are foreseen to flatten out to the point where they're too slow to avoid commiditization/Chineseification, and the Japs are just scrambling for something that is inherently difficult simply because it is difficult, figuring that's the only way of keeping a comfortable lead... One way or the other, I don't particularly like it. And if I was Ray Kurzweil hoping to live forever, I would like it even less.
  
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- TW5 on Sep 10, 2014
  
  Plants can split water molecules with sunlight.......
  
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Stingray65 on Sep 09, 2014

Viable and competitive hydrogen vehicles are always 10 years away, and have been for the last 50 years. But if Japanese taxpayers wish to provide big hydrogen subsidies I expect it will still be 10 years away - 10 years from now.

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Hybridkiller on Sep 10, 2014

To no one in particular: ask yourselves why the world's largest oil producer is heavily investing in transforming their electric grid to 100% renewable energy.

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