Kubota Unveils First Fuel Cell Tractor

News: Far East

2024-04-17

Kubota Unveils First Fuel Cell Tractor

JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

On March 28, Kubota unveiled the first prototype of a fuel cell-powered tractor. Although no release date has been set, the company will consider installing fuel cells in unmanned, automated tractors. Kubota is also developing battery-powered agricultural equipment, but the company believes that hydrogen-powered fuel cells will be effective for medium-large sized agricultural equipment.

Kubota is rushing to commercialize fuel cells because it believes demand will grow in developed countries such as Japan, Europe and the United States as a result of the trend toward decarbonization. The prototype machine has about 60 horsepower and has three hydrogen tanks installed above the cabin, which are used in Toyota’s Mirai fuel cell car. It generates electricity by reacting hydrogen with oxygen to power the engine. In the experiment, a tractor was equipped with a plowing unit to till the soil.

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2024-02-27

Toyota and Chiyoda Develop Hydrogen Production System

JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Toyota Motor Corporation and Chiyoda Corporation have announced the joint development of a hydrogen production system. The two companies plan to begin demonstration tests at Toyota’s main plant in fiscal 2025 and hope to begin marketing the system around fiscal 2027.

The system will produce hydrogen by electrolyzing water. It will have an output of about 5 megawatts and will be able to produce about 100 kilograms of hydrogen per hour. The new plant has a footprint of 6 meters wide by 2.5 meters deep, about half the size of a typical plant. By linking multiple plants, the production volume can be significantly increased.

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2023-10-24

Komatsu To Develop Electric Excavator with Honda

FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT

Komatsu says it will launch the PC05E-1 electric micro excavator, jointly developed with Honda, in the Japanese market in October. In the domestic construction equipment market, where the electrification market has not yet been developed, Komatsu plans to quickly create a market to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by introducing a variety of models.

The machine is an expanded version of the PC01E-1 electric micro excavator, which was introduced to the domestic market in March 2022. The current “PC05-1” micro excavator, which is widely used for small civil engineering and construction work as well as gas, electric and plumbing sites, has been electrified by installing the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: or electric power unit (eGX) as a power source, like the “PC01E-1”. Komatsu aims to achieve electrification by FY2023.

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2023-09-16

Japan Sets Target of 300,000 EV Chargers by 2030

FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released draft guidelines for the installation of EV chargers, with a target of 300,000 units by 2030. This is double the previous target of 150,000 units and 10X higher than the current number of installations. The company is calling for the installation of chargers in commercial facilities.

The draft guidelines also call on operators to improve the speed of charging and the convenience of operation. To achieve decarbonization, the government is pushing to expand the installation of rechargers, which had only about 30,000 units as of March 2023.

The installation target includes 270,000 regular chargers at commercial facilities and 30,000 fast chargers on highways. The introduction of a new charging method called “plug-and-charge” will also be encouraged. This is a system in which vehicles can be authenticated and charged simply by plugging them into the charger; it has been adopted by Tesla in the United States. The system eliminates the need to hold a membership card over the charger or use a smartphone app to authenticate personal information.

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2023-08-21

Firms Develop Hydrogen-Powered Generator

FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Komatsu, Hitachi, and Denyo announced the commercialization of a gen-set that uses a mixture of hydrogen and light oil as fuel. It is possible to mix up to 50% hydrogen, which does not emit CO2 when burned, and CO2 emissions can be reduced by 50%.

The first unit will be installed at Komatsu’s Oyama Plant, with full operation scheduled for the end of September. Hitachi will serve as the point of contact for the system, which will be marketed to a wide range of external customers.

The system can mix up to 50% hydrogen with diesel engines that use diesel oil. The power output is 250 kW. Komatsu and Hitachi provided the fuel injection control technology and the function to safely stop the engine in case of abnormal combustion, respectively, and Denyo assembled them into the generator.

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2023-07-26

Honda Forced To Reduce Car Features

FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Honda will sell some of its new vehicles without a function that detects vehicles in the blind spot and warns the driver, saying the dedicated semiconductors required for this function have been in short supply.

To solve the situation where it takes about a year from order receipt to delivery, Honda will sell the new models with the function reduced so that they can be delivered in about six months.

Sales of the new SUV model “ZR-V” began with a specification that eliminates “Blind Spot Information (BSI),” which alerts the driver by detecting vehicles diagonally behind the vehicle and displaying them in the door mirror. Since the procurement of the necessary in-vehicle semiconductors was not completed in time and the delivery period was expected to be prolonged, the company decided to sell the car without this BSI function. Although it varies by store and model, the time from order to delivery can be reduced by half, from about one year to about six months.

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2023-06-19

Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso To Merge

FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT

The announced reorganization of several commercial vehicles companies came suddenly and was one that few in the industry expected.

On May 30, Toyota Motor Corporation and Daimler Trucks of Germany announced a business merger between Toyota-owned Hino Motors and Daimler-owned Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

The four companies have reached a basic agreement that calls for Toyota and Daimler to establish a holding company by the end of 2024 with the aim of going public. Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso will become part of the holding company. Toyota and Daimler will hold the same percentage of shares in the holding company, and Hino Motors will cease to be a consolidated subsidiary of Toyota after the merger.

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