Tokyo announces moves to support fuel cell vehicles

The Tokyo metropolitan government Tuesday announced moves to support development of fuel cell vehicles (FCV), including increasing the number of hydrogen stations for FCVs and providing subsidies for hydrogen stations and FCV purchases.

The metropolitan government planned to increase the number of hydrogen stations for FCVs in Tokyo to 35 by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and to 80 by 2025, the Kyodo news agency reported Tuesday.

"We would like to make a (hydrogen utilization) model first in Tokyo in the run-up to nationwide diffusion," Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe said at a meeting of the metropolitan government.

The metropolitan and central governments will provide subsidies covering 400 million yen (about 3.45 million U.S. dollars) of some 500 million yen (about 4.31 million U.S. dollars) required for building each hydrogen station.

The metropolitan government will also subsidize FCV purchases in order to increase the number of FCVs in Tokyo to 100,000 by 2025.

The Tokyo plan came as Toyota Motor Corp. announced on Tuesday it will become the first automaker in the world to start selling FCVs.

The Toyota vehicle will go on sale in December with a price tag of more than 7 million yen (about 60,345 U.S. dollars).

"Metropolitan and central government subsidies could lower the FCV price for a buyer to around 4 million yen (about 34,483 U.S. dollars)," Masuzoe said. "I would like to buy one someday."