As long as I’ve been casually aware of cars, which is about 20 years, Honda has always hated electric cars and had a hard on for hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells.
Does Japan have easier / better access to Hydrogen than other places? From what I understand the hydrogen cars are really cool but there’s a lot of logistical headache to store hydrogen as a fuel
Japan is smaller, has reasonable public transportation, so people there drive shorter distances and less frequently.
The big problem with hydrogen is getting fueling stations. Japan is probably the right size where hydrogen fuel stations can effectively serve the demand.
The big problem with batteries is they require much more critical material than other automotive energy storage. Japan is a small(ish) island nation. Getting those materials is expensive.
The other possibility I was wondering about is if Honda or Toyota envisioned themselves as becoming hydrogen suppliers, so that they’d be building their own vertical integration into the market.
As long as I’ve been casually aware of cars, which is about 20 years, Honda has always hated electric cars and had a hard on for hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells.
I’m by no means a car guy but I thought hydrogen was more Toyota’s thing?
Tbh, all the Japanese makers tend to be really shy about electric and big on hydrogen for some reason that I’ve never quite got a handle on.
Does Japan have easier / better access to Hydrogen than other places? From what I understand the hydrogen cars are really cool but there’s a lot of logistical headache to store hydrogen as a fuel
Japan is smaller, has reasonable public transportation, so people there drive shorter distances and less frequently.
The big problem with hydrogen is getting fueling stations. Japan is probably the right size where hydrogen fuel stations can effectively serve the demand.
The big problem with batteries is they require much more critical material than other automotive energy storage. Japan is a small(ish) island nation. Getting those materials is expensive.
That’s my head cannon for it.
The other possibility I was wondering about is if Honda or Toyota envisioned themselves as becoming hydrogen suppliers, so that they’d be building their own vertical integration into the market.