Japan Targets Hydrogen Powered Tokyo 2020 Olympics

The Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2020 might be very, very different from all of the other Olympics in the past. We do know that the world would like to go green, and the Japanese government intends to make use of Tokyo 2020 as the venue to show off hydrogen fuel-cell technology to the rest of the world. This will be an expensive undertaking, no doubt about it, but it will also be green – a whole lot greener than Beijing 2008, at least.

The Tokyo government would like to promote a “Hydrogen society” in 2020, with a budget that could possibly exceed $300 million when it comes to building enough hydrogen-refueling infrastructure to get it going. Apart from that, there are plans to roll out a minimum of 100 fuel-cell buses in and around the city, apart from other private fuel-cell vehicles.

Toyota’s Mirai will be the world’s first production hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle (with a 300 mile range) should be covering some of the expenses, in addition to Honda and Nissan. As for the Japanese government, they would like to see 6,000 fuel-cell vehicle on its roads when 2020 arrives, and Tokyo has set aside approximately $385 million when it comes to subsidies for potential car buyers, not to mention to use that money for the construction and installation of hydrogen refueling stations.

Edwin Kee
Categories: General