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California-based Quantum Technologies aims to establish a new company in Japan by mid-2005, and build a hydrogen tank manufacturing facility there by 2008. The plant's output will be sold in Japan and other Asian countries, Quantum's president/CEO Alan Niedzwiecki has told the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
The subsidiary will be headed by a Japanese executive, and will commence operations with several engineering staff. The plant will be Quantum's first production facility outside the US; its location will be selected after the new company is set up. Annual output of hydrogen tanks is projected at 40 000-100 000 units.
Quantum's sales to Japanese firms, which currently stand at 20% of its total sales, are projected to increase to 30-35% of its business by next year. The company also intends to serve automakers in other parts of the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan.
Tokyo-based Ebara Corporation plans to sell PEM fuel cells at a discount to university researchers, charging them just ยฅ800 000 (US$6800) for a 1.2 kWe-class power module. By making it easier for academics to obtain fuel cells, Ebara aims to create an environment to nurture ideas and yield new applications, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
The sales will be made though Ebara Ballard Corporation, a joint venture between Ebara and Canada's Ballard Power Systems. Ebara Ballard sells a fuel cell system for use as an emergency power source priced at ยฅ2.5 million ($21 400), which combines a power module with control equipment, power converter and batteries. The system it plans to sell to academics will include only the power module, which is made by Ballard Power Systems.
General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Isuzu Motors and several vehicle dealers have reached an agreement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), bringing to an end the litigation involving the 2001 Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) regulation. The agreement calls for the automakers to drop their lawsuits, and CARB to dismiss its appeal against the injunction, once an amendment to the 2003 ZEV regulation is finalized [FCB, June 2003].
In a joint statement, the automakers said the proposed changes will make it more practical to comply with the ZEV regulations, allowing them to cut exhaust emissions by selling hybrid, fuel cell and extremely clean conventional vehicles rather than just electric vehicles. Under the new rules, they have to deliver at least 250 FCVs or even more battery-powered vehicles by 2008, rising to 27 500 by 2014.
plans for this 'green' hydrogen to be used to refuel a fuel cell hybrid urban transit bus currently under development.
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