No.221, PDF Version, August 2014
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THE LATEST NEWS NUMBER 221, 2014 FCDIC Toyota to Sell its FCV Core Parts to other Automakers Arranged by T. Homma 1. Governmental Measures (1) METI government. A strategic area will be chosen from four The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry large metropolitan areas to concentrate the policy and (METI) will relax regulations this year for fuel cell business resources. Cooperation with local vehicles (FCVs) operating on hydrogen to be able to governments will also be strengthened by the plan. provide homes with electricity. Currently only electric The ministry plans to install approximately 100 vehicles (EVs) are allowed to supply electricity. FCVs hydrogen filling stations, but the number of the will be commercially available from FY 2014, and the installed filling stations has reached only one third of ministry will change the regulations to treat FCVs the the target. METI will encourage new car dealers to same as EVs. As well as an emergency power source, install simple or mobile filling facilities to prepare these vehicles can supply electricity at a peak period hydrogen filling infrastructure for smooth FCV to reduce electricity bills. Under the current takeoff. (Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun, July 1, 2014) regulations, power supply from FCV to homes (2) Japanese Government & METI requires a licensed electrical engineer. The ministry On June 19th, the Japanese government finished will eliminate the need of engineers by amending a drawing up a plan to promote FCVs and home FCs. ministerial ordinance of the Electricity Business Act FCV sales will start fully in 2015, and this is in FY 2014, so that unqualified individuals can determined as the “first year of hydrogen” in the plan. connect the vehicles to homes. Providers offer cheaper The government aims for related businesses to be electricity overnight than in the day. EV users can launched with the global market in their view. A store electricity in their cars at night and send the subsidy scheme is under consideration to support ¥2 power from vehicles to homes in the day, which allows to ¥3 million for each FCV, and they are expected to a reduction in energy bills. However, this power sell for nearly ¥10 million, excluding the subsidy. For supply needs a device which changes direct current to example, Toyota’s FCV will be available from the end alternating current and costs approximately a couple of this year, and it will sell for ¥7 million. With the of ¥100,000. (The Nikkei, June 15, 2014) subsidy, the actual cost will become approximately ¥5 METI has approved the “New Business Project Plan” million. METI will include an outline of the subsidy submitted by Toyota Industries using the Industrial scheme in the budget request this summer. They aim Competitiveness Enhancement Act. This approval to bring the FCV price down to ¥2 million, the level of allows the firm to test a fuel cell (FC) forklift with a hybrid vehicles (HVs). Cost reduction by volume metal hydrogen container which is not certified under production is the key for this price cut. The ministry the current regulations. With this special scheme, the aims to unify safety standards among other major ministry hopes for earlier commercialization of a FC developed countries by 2020, and has started forklifts. The firm applied for the special scheme for discussions with related departments of these business experiments which allows approved firms to countries. The uniform standards allow Japanese obtain special deregulations. (Nikkan Jidosha automakers to sell their vehicles easier worldwide, Shimbun & The Chemical Daily, July 1, 2014) which leads to enlarging the scale of production. METI will review the plan for hydrogen filling METI also aims to reduce the construction cost of station preparation for FCVs. Discussions will be held hydrogen filling stations which are essential for FCV to re-arrange work share between the industry and 1 http://www.fcdic.com/ growth. Currently a hydrogen filling station costs schedule were discussed in the meeting. The ¥400 to ¥500 million to build, and the ministry enforcement policies for next five years were targets ¥200 million by 2020. Additionally, a subsidy examined. The priority subjects for FY 2014 were scheme for operation costs of the hydrogen filling decided; ① hydrogen transport and storage stations is now under consideration. technology using ammonia as a carrier, ② hydrogen On the other hand, home FC will keep its current transport and storage technology using toluene, ③ subsidy scheme which supports about ¥0.4 million for liquid hydrogen, ④ hydrogen usage technology, and each purchase. The ministry targets at ¥0.7 to 0.8 ⑤ the development of element technology for safety million, a half that of the current price, by 2020 and evaluation of the energy carrier. (The Denki ¥0.5 to ¥0.6 million by 2030. Furthermore, a power Shimbun, June 26, 2014) station using hydrogen is planned to be (5) Japan & EU commercialized in 2030’s. A meeting of the Japan and the European Union (EU) intend to unify “Committee for Strategy of Hydrogen and FC” an standards and regulations for five fields including advisory committee of METI, was held in the FCVs and robots for medical/nursing-care. On July 2nd, afternoon of June 19th, and the plan and measures they held an experts’ meeting in Brussels to confirm were compiled there. This is the first time the the aim of unifying regulations and standards. For government has drawn up a hydrogen business plan. FCVs, they plan to standardize the shape and The plan shows the outline of the whole hydrogen material of hydrogen tanks to hold fuel, as well as the industry for businesses, financial institutions and procedure of the safety test. This allows Japanese investors to help in making their decisions. (The firms to sell their products to Europe without a large Nikkei, June 19th & 20th, 2014; The Mainichi change in the specifications for the domestic market, Newspapers, The Sankei Shimbun, The Nikkan which is a backup for them to explore the EU market. Kogyo Shimbun, The Tokyo Shimbun, The Chunichi Their FCVs are expected to sell for about ¥7 million Shimbun & Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun, June 20, 2014; when their commercial production starts. These Osaka Nichinich Shimbun, June 21st, 2014; The uniform standards may reduce the costs, which would Chemical Daily, June 23rd, 2014; The Denki Shimbun, attract more consumers. (The Nikkei & The June 25th, 2014 & 12 other newspapers) Chunichi Shimbun July 3, 2014; The Sankei Shimbun, (3) NEDO & IEA Osaka Nichinichi Shimbun, Kanagawa Shimbun, The International Energy Agency (IEA) will hold a Gifu Shimbun, The Chugoku Shimbun, The Ibaraki conference to compile a road map for hydrogen Shimbun, Miyazaki Nichinichi Shimbun, The technologies on June 26th and 27th at Hotel Mt. Fuji in Kitanippon Shimbun, Minami-Nippon Shimbun, the Yamanakako Village, and has invited related Nihonkai Shimbun, The Yamaguchi Shimbun, The organizations in the Asian region to the conference. Tokushima Shimbun, The Kochi Shimbun, The The conference will have discussions on hydrogen Shikoku Shimbun, Jomo Shinbun & The To-o Nippo, production and hydrogen application technologies to July 4, 2014) draw up a road map. The New Energy and Industrial (6) Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has On June 12th, the Sub-committee for the Hydrogen been organizing the conference. (The Yamanashi Society Promotion of the Liberal Democratic Party of Nichinichi Shimbun, June 25, 2014) Japan held a meeting to compile a policy proposal to (4) Cabinet Office instigate a hydrogen society. The proposal shows On June 25th, the Cabinet Office held the first targets to promote FCVs and to form a hydrogen meeting of the Energy Carrier Promotion Committee energy society as well as objectives to accelerate of the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP). hydrogen procurement in Japan. (The Denki The committee will promote technological Shimbun & The Shizuoka Shimbun, June 13, 2014) developments of hydrogen production, transport, The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan has proposed storage and usage in cooperation with industry, a number of policies to promote new energy. The academia and government. Priority issues and Policy Research Council for Resource and Energy 2 http://www.fcdic.com/ Strategy of the party insists that the Heat Supply cooperation with industry, academia and government Business Act should be amended to relax the as well as hydrogen energy related research and regulations on charges to encourage installation of development. Fukuoka aims to sell itself as an cogeneration systems which use exhaust heat for advanced hydrogen research center with the result of cooling and heating buildings. For hydrogen energy goods sales. (The Nishinippon Shimbun, July 5, 2014) usage, a FCV price including subsidy is targeted at ¥2 million, the same level as HVs. They suggest that the 3. FC Element Technology Developments vehicle be subsidized until 2025 and the subsidy (1) Nippon Sheet Glass amount gradually decreased over 10 years. On June 16th, Nippon Sheet Glass announced that a Expressway fee exemption for FCVs until 2020 was Super Glass Paper, a glass fiber sheet, with the also recommended. (Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun, June thinnest of 20μm had been developed. The existing 14, 2014; The Nikkei, June 16, 2014) product has a 150μm thickness. They examined the process technology, and also succeeded in producing a 2. Local Governmental Measure roll of very thin glass paper sheet which is considered (1) Aichi Prefecture difficult. Because glass paper has high porosity and On June 6th, Aichi Prefecture announced that a heat resistance, and it is used often as a separator of mobile hydrogen filling station will be prepared at the lead–acid batteries. Having made a thinner product, West Annex of the prefectural office in Nagoya City to the firm aims to commercialize the glass paper by promote FCVs. The prefecture will submit a 2017 to 2018 as a reinforcement of the FC electrolyte supplemental spending bill of ¥83 million including membrane and a separator in the lithium-ion battery the preparation cost of ¥58 million to the Prefectural (LIB).