Fuel cells will flop outside Japan, says VW Are you an aspiring New or Used Car Buyer looking for your dream car? Visit Cars4sa.co.za Filed under: Japan, Technology, Volkswagen, Electric It may fly within Japan, but not globally, VWs Shoji said. Its long been battered into our beleaguered auto writer brains that the ultimate future source of motivation for tomorrows cars and trucks is not gasoline, diesel, electricity, natural gas, propane or solar power - its the hydrogen fuel cell. Its been the Next Big Thing since the start of Next Big Things. Despite decades of prophesizing, the availability of fuel-cell vehicles and the infrastructure to go with them remains exceedingly limited. And to hear Volkswagen explain it, things arent poised to get any better any time soon. The German manufacturers Japanese president, Shigeru Shoji, tells Bloomberg that FCVs arent likely to catch on beyond Japans borders, where the vehicles have a shot at catching on due to huge subsidies offered by the government. Hydrogen buyers in Japan can receive up to $28,500 in breaks from the government if they adopt the zero-emissions vehicles. It may fly within Japan, but not globally, Shoji told Bloomberg in an interview. The heart of the issue rests, not surprisingly, with costs. Because storing and transporting hydrogen and building out the necessary infrastructure to make it available to consumers is so pricy, the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - which as Bloomberg explains it, is targeting a hydrogen society - needs to incentivize adoption. Volkswagens statement comes as Toyota prepares to launch a fuel-cell vehicle (shown above) on the American West Coast. With sales slated to kick off year, Toyota expects the cost to fill up the FCV to start at around $50 before falling to $30. VW, doesnt seem too sure of that, though. There are still a lot of questions lingering about how practical it is even though Toyota launches next year, VW spokesman Yasuo Maruta told Bloomberg. By the time it gets very usable by the normal customers, its maybe still a decade or two decades away. Fuel cells will flop outside Japan, says VW originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Sep 2014 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 13:49:24 +0000
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