ChinaAutoInfo

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced today that it will provide subsidies to Honda and Toyota to strengthen the production capacity of hydrogen fuel cells (FC), particularly for the truck sector.

The Japanese government has established a policy to subsidize one-third of the investment in decarbonization-related supply chain equipment. Based on the applications of the two companies, the government decided to provide Honda with 14.7 billion yen (approximately 697 million USD) and Toyota with 11.2 billion yen (approximately 531 million USD) in financial support.

Honda has been focusing on developing fuel cell systems for its own passenger vehicles. In the future, Honda plans to expand its technology to commercial vehicles (such as trucks) and backup power for data centers, setting a target of 2,000 units sold annually by the mid-2020s.

Toyota plans to sell 100,000 fuel cell systems annually by 2030, most of which will be used for commercial vehicles. Toyota will focus on promoting its fuel cell trucks in Europe and China, where demand is high.

According to the updated hydrogen strategy in 2023, the commercialization process of hydrogen fuel cell technology must be advanced as soon as possible, and a system that allows Japanese companies to stand out in global competition must be rapidly established. It is expected that by 2030, the global market scale will exceed 4 trillion yen, and the government will strengthen international competitiveness by supporting supply chain construction.