Toyota has joined a Japanese government initiative to test end-to-end hydrogen fuel supply chain which aim to cut down CO2 emission significantly.
This private-public partnership consists of Kanagawa Perfectural Government, municipal governments in the cities of Yokohama and Kawasaki.
This partnership includes three private players including Toyota, Iwatani and Toshiba.
The aim of the project is to implement and test an end-to-end low-carbon hydrogen supply chain which uses hydrogen produced from renewable energy.
Electricity produced from a wind-power plant in Yokohama City near Tokyo will be used to electrolyze hydrogen, separating hydrogen and oxygen from water.
Hydrogen produced from the process will be used for powering electric forklifts manufactured by Toyota in diverse conditions.
The project has been announced in September 2015 and will begin at facilities along Tokyo Bay in Yokohoma and Kawasaki.
The water electrolysis system will be provided by Toshiba.
The hydrogen produced from the process will be compressed, stored and transported in a hydrogen fueling truck to four sites including a factory, a vegetable and a fruit market and two warehouses.
Hydrogen storage battery systems will be supplied by Toyota and the hydrogen fuelling trucks will be supplied by Iwatani.
The fuel will power these electric forklifts which will be operating under a range of conditions.
Finally, the project will explore hydrogen supply chain feasibility. The project demonstration will provide data for assessing future courses of action needed to reduce cost of hydrogen production.
This includes development of mass production process and steps required for deregulation.
The feasibility study will also contribute to the theory of developing a model to adopt hydrogen through technical innovation and advancing full-fledged supply chains based on needs projection in 2030.
Another aspect of the project is also to study impact of fuel cells on CO2 emissions.
