Japanese car giants support pollution-free fuel cell push
Japan is backing a push for pollution-free vehicles running on hydrogen fuel cells.
The country also plans to build more hydrogen fuelling stations so that the number of fuel cell vehicles on the road will grow to 40,000 by 2020, from the current handful.
The collaboration brings together 11 companies, including car giants Toyota, Nissan and Honda, as well as energy and gas companies and a bank.
Fuel cell vehicles are zero-emission, running on power produced when hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to create water.
Only a handful of such vehicles are on the roads at present, partly because of the scarcity of hydrogen stations.
Tokyo-based Honda, for instance, has delivered only 245 of its latest Clarity fuel-cell vehicles in Japan and the US.
