Toyota to step up hydrogen fuel cells push outside Japan

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece here in The Financial Times or enjoy below

🗞️ Driving the news: Toyota sees a significant business opportunity by 2030 in selling its fuel cells outside Japan, primarily in Europe, China, and North America
• These regions are taking aggressive steps towards decarbonization and are keen to control their energy supply chains

🔭 The context: Despite Japan's strong focus on hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels, sales of hydrogen-powered vehicles in the country have been underwhelming
• The high cost of carbon-free hydrogen and limited refilling stations are key hurdles

🌎 Why does it matter for the planet: Hydrogen technology provides a potential pathway to reduce carbon emissions, especially in the transport sector 

⏭️ What's next: Toyota aims to leverage partnerships with truckmakers in Europe and China and increase local production to boost orders for its Mirai’s hydrogen system by 2030
• The company aims to sell 100,000 units, primarily for commercial vehicles, which could help halve the unit cost

💬 One quote: “We need volume to bring down the costs so we need to roll out enough vehicles in Europe and China. Once the costs are down, we can transfer the positive outcome to Japan” (Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota CTO)

📈 One stat: Despite the initial goal to sell more than 30,000 fuel-cell vehicles annually worldwide around 2020, Toyota has sold fewer than 22,000 fuel-cell vehicles since the launch of its hydrogen-powered Mirai in 2014

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