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Tuesday 21 November 2017 TECHNOLOGY
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Amid global electric-car buzz, Toyota bullish on hydrogen

By YURI KAGEYAMA gen fueling stations, and
AP Business Writer they are costly to build.
TOYOTA, Japan (AP) — At Hydrogen is viewed as po-
a car factory in this city tentially hazardous: the
named after Toyota, the 1937 Hindenberg disas-
usual robots with their ter, when 36 people died
swinging arms are missing. when the hydrogen-fueled
Instead, workers intently fit airship caught fire and
parts into place by hand crashed, ended an earlier
with craftsmanship-like era of hydrogen-powered
care. passenger travel.
The big moment on the as- Hydrogen explosions dur-
sembly line comes when ing the 2011 nuclear ca-
two bulbous yellow tanks tastrophe in Fukushima are
of hydrogen are rolled over a more recent example of
and delicately fitted into such hazards. But propo-
each car’s underside. nents of the fuel say hydro-
While much of the world is gen is no more dangerous
going gung-ho for electric than gas or electricity if
vehicles to help get rid of handled properly.
auto emissions and end reli- A fill-up with hydrogen
ance on fossil fuels, Japan’s takes about as long as at a
top automaker Toyota Mo- In this Oct. 30, 2017, photo, workers of Toyota Motor Corp. assemble a Mirai fuel cell vehicle at the gas pump, while EV charg-
tor Corp. is banking on hy- automaker’s Motomachi plant in Toyota, western Japan. ing takes about 30 minutes
drogen. Associated Press using special equipment
Toyota sells about 10 million miles (502 kilometers) per Producing the highly flam- that are on the roads in ex- for quick charging. Regular
vehicles a year around the fueling, under U.S. EPA con- mable gas and getting it tremely limited numbers. charging can take hours.
world. It has sold only about ditions, and fuels as quickly into the vehicles requires The global stock of electric “I’m not claiming that hy-
4,000 Mirai fuel cell vehicles as a regular car. energy. Ultimately, the idea vehicles will soon surpass 2 drogen will replace any
since late 2014, roughly half Toyota’s chairman, Takeshi is to convert energy from million, according to the In- form of energy, but it will
of them outside Japan. Uchiyamada, believes hy- renewables like wind and ternational Energy Agency. find its place in the world
The Mirai, which means drogen is an ideal, stable solar power into hydrogen, It’s projected to climb to energy mix,” Benoit Potier,
“future,” is not cheap at fuel for a future low-carbon or even make hydrogen between 9 million-20 million chief executive of French
$57,500, but Toyota loses society. from sewage waste. by 2020. Fuel cell vehicles industrial gas company Air
money on each one. Still, “In this light, hydrogen Unlike a gas-powered inter- are scarcely a presence. Liquide, and a chair of the
the company’s goal is to holds tremendous poten- nal combustion engine, the The Hydrogen Council, Hydrogen Council, said in a
sell 30,000 fuel-cell vehicles tial,” Uchiyamada, known only byproducts from a fuel made up of 28 companies telephone interview.
a year by about 2020. as “the father of the Prius,” cell are electricity, heat that are promoting hydro- Air Liquide has been work-
Hydrogen fuel cells don’t the world’s top-selling hy- and water. There are no gen fuel, said in a report this ing on producing, storing
suffer the EVs’ main draw- brid car, said during a tour emissions of pollutants that week that it expects hydro- and distributing hydrogen
back of limited range. of the factory. can cause global warming. gen to power about 10 to fuel for more than four de-
The Tesla Model S can go “Hydrogen doesn’t exist Yet the energy unleashed is 15 million cars and 500,000 cades. Potier says he ex-
about 300 miles (480 kilo- in the natural world on its powerful: Hydrogen is the trucks by 2030. It also fore- pects costs for making the
meters) on a single charge, own, but you can create fuel that sends NASA rock- casts it will be widely used gas will fall as its use be-
although that varies de- hydrogen from various ma- ets into space. for industries, heating and comes more widespread.
pending on driving condi- terials,” he said. So fuel cells could be used power and power storage. In one step toward widen-
tions, and that’s quite a dis- The Prius turned out to be to power cars, trains, bus- The group met this week ing use of hydrogen, Ka-
tance for an EV. a good bet for Toyota. The es, trucks and forklifts, and in Bonn, on the sidelines of wasaki Heavy Industries,
Other models run out of Mirai could be the same. to provide electricity and the COP23 U.N. meeting on an aerospace, motorcycle
juice quicker, at about half But not everyone shares heat for homes. the environment. and ship manufacturer, is
that, because the longer Uchiyamada’s enthusiasm Detroit-based General Mo- Toyota and other manufac- developing a technology
the range, generally the for hydrogen. tors Co., Mercedes-Benz of turers pursuing hydrogen to make hydrogen in Aus-
heavier the batteries. And A fuel cell mixes hydrogen Germany, Japan’s Honda fuel cells face some signifi- tralia using “brown coal,”
electric vehicles usually with the oxygen in the air Motor Co. and Hyundai of cant hurdles. Japan has an peat or low-grade coal for
take hours to charge. to generate electricity that South Korea have also de- ample 28,000 EV charging shipment to Japan in tank-
The Mirai can run for 312 can power a motor. veloped fuel cell vehicles stations but only 92 hydro- ers it plans to make. q

Volvo to supply Uber with thousands of self-driving cars

By JARI TANNER based ride-sharing com- part of that disruption,” The deal is based on an al- day the company was
Associated Press pany with its XC90 premium said Volvo Cars CEO Hakan liance Volvo announced “thrilled” to expand its part-
HELSINKI (AP) — Volvo Cars SUVs complete with auton- Samuelsson. with Uber last year when nership with Volvo.
said Monday it will sell tens omous driving technolo- The carmaker, owned by the two companies said “This new agreement puts
of thousands of self-driving gies, from 2019 until 2021. China’s Geely Holding they would collaborate us on a path towards mass
cars to Uber, which is ex- The framework deal is non- since 2010, didn’t disclose on developing self-driving produced self-driving vehi-
panding to become an exclusive. the agreement’s value or cars, pledging to invest a cles at scale,” Miller said in
operator and owner of its “The automotive industry the precise number of vehi- combined $300 million to a joint statement with Vol-
own car fleet. Volvo said in is being disrupted by tech- cles. Media reports suggest the project. vo. Volvo Cars key manu-
a statement that it would nology and Volvo Cars Uber is buying up to 24,000 Jeff Miller, Uber’s head of facturing plant is located in
provide the San Francisco- chooses to be an active autonomous Volvo cars. auto alliances, said Mon- Goteborg, Sweden.q