Mass production of fuel cell vehicles could begin within the next decade, it has been claimed.

In an interview with Jiji Press, Takeo Fukui, the president of Honda Motor Company, has reiterated the company's intention to focus on the development of fuel cell vehicles rather than electric vehicles, and believes that significant progress is being made.

Meanwhile, Honda is also working on a home-use system for producing hydrogen from natural gas as part of its attempt to overcome the main hurdle to hydrogen and fuel cell vehicle adoption - the supply of hydrogen.

However, Mr Fukui believes that a hydrogen fuelling infrastructure will be readily created once technical issues are resolved - further paving the way for fuel cell vehicle usage.

As a result, he believes that the market will be sufficiently developed for Honda to start mass producing fuel cell vehicles inside the next ten years.

Both Mitsubishi and Nissan plan to release electric vehicles within the next five years, although Mr Fukui has dismissed these as they can only be used for short-distance travel in urban areas.

Adfero
30.12.2007