The Tokyo metropolitan government and Japanese carmaker Toyota plan to boost fuel cell battery vehicle (FCV) taxis in Tokyo, with a target to implement 600 units by the April 2030-March 2031 fiscal year.
The metropolitan government launched the project "Tokyo H2" on 3 September, aiming to generate hydrogen demand in the city's commercial mobility sector. Toyota and the Tokyo hire-taxi association agreed to participate in the project to promote FCV taxis.
The city of Tokyo set a goal in April to introduce 10,000 units of commercial FCVs by 2035-36 and 600 units of FCV taxis by 2030-31. Toyota will supply 200 units of its Crown FCV as taxis by 2025-26 to help achieve this target, while the metropolitan government will offer a subsidy to fill a price gap between these FCVs and conventional taxis.
The subsidy will be designed to allow taxi companies to purchase Crown FCVs at the same price of Toyota's existing Japan Taxis, which cost ¥3.5mn-3.7mn ($24,000-25,000), said the city government. Toyota's Crown costs ¥8.6mn as of now.
The city also plans to promote FCV buses and trucks toward 2035-36 as part of this project.
Japan aims to introduce 800,000 units of FCVs by 2030. But the cost challenges in FCVs and hydrogen refuelling stations are persistent.
The ministry of economy, trade and industry Meti plans to reduce a price gap between FCVs and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) from ¥3mn to ¥700,000 by 2025. But FCVs are still a much more expensive option for motorists than HEVs currently. Toyota's Mirai FCVs are sold at ¥7.4mn-8.2mn. This is compared with ¥2.2mn-7.6mn for Toyota's HEVs. The sales price of fellow automaker Honda's FCVs is ¥8.1mn per car, while its HEVs are sold at ¥2.9mn-4.6mn.
Hydrogen refuelling stations are also expensive to build, and lack of the stations has hampered FCV implementation. But limited FCV sales have made companies hesitate to invest in the stations. Tokyo metropolitan government plans to expand subsidies to support the introduction of hydrogen refuelling stations in the city in 2025-26.
