TOKYO, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japan, enjoying its car exports for decades, now, is seeking a new path to boost its traditional auto industry through researching and developing green vehicles, or new energy cars, amid fierce competition in the global automobile market.
The latest case has seen two Japanese automakers, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, decide recently to jointly develop a new model that will be priced at about 1.5 million yen (about 13,215 U.S. dollars) and could travel about 200 km per charge, costing about 3, 000 yen (about 26 dollars) for the electricity.
In fact, Japan has been engaged in the development of new energy vehicles for years, as Toyota, the giant of Japan's auto industry and currently the world's top car producer, began to develop its Prius hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) in the late 1990s and now the Prius model has evolved to a third generation with sales accumulatedly reaching more than 4 million units.
Another Japanese automaker, Honda, introduced its hybrid power model INSIGHT in February 2009, and Lexus, a luxury brand under Toyota, also ushered in such a green car. Such momentum has been evidenced by the Japanese Industry Ministry which forecast that sales of HEVs are expected to hit 1.5 million units in 2015.
The trend was not only found in the Japanese market, but also witnessed in the global green car market. With factors such as less air and noise pollution being taken into account by consumers, another type of green car, electric vehicle (EV), is becoming increasingly popular among buyers.
According to IHS, a U.S. market research agency, sales of EVs would reach about 700,000 units by 2018 and 3.07 million units by 2030.
To boost such eco-friendly automobiles, Japanese automakers, including Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Honda, also jointly launched a company providing charging and other services to HEVs and EVs, under a plan to install about 17,000 charging stations at highway service stops and convenient stores with the assistance of government subsidies.
Furthermore, the booming EV development triggered relevant industries' research to help develop the eco-friendly cars.
Lithium-ion battery is the heart of EVs and is key to their cruising ability and safety. Japanese chemical firms like Mitsubishi Chemical, Nichia Chemical and Sekisui have all developed advanced new materials for producing better Lithium-ion batteries for EVs at a lower cost, giving EVs increasingly competitive prices versus traditional gasoline-guzzling vehicles.
In the eyes of the automakers, EVs are just a transition, not the ultimate version of the green automobile since it definitely takes a long time to charge the cars and the cruising ability could only afford limited distance, rather than a long journey without charging stations. And one of the biggest headaches for EV developers is the battery recycling, especially after an EV becomes disused. If not well-treated, the batteries are fatal to the environment.
Currently, Japan has put its focus on the new generation of green automobiles, the fuel-cell vehicle (FCV) which only consumes hydrogen to generate power for the vehicle and emits a small dose of water and carbon dioxide.
Toyota kicked off the research of FCVs immediately after it revealed its EVs and exhibited at last year's Tokyo Motor Show its concept FCV that could drive for about 700 km with a three-minute hydrogen charge.
Toyota said in June that it will firstly unveil its FCVs in December this year and start to sell the model in metropolitan areas in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka. Meanwhile, Honda and Nissan said that they will release their FCVs in 2015 and 2017 respectively, indicating that the era of FCVs is around the corner in Japan and will challenge EVs.
Nearly 100 FCVs are being tested on the roads in Japan for improvement by collecting a wide range of data. Experts here said that with the improving technology and decreasing costs, FCV will become the real green vehicle that could help address energy shortages and pollution that trouble many countries.
The Japanese government is mulling to subsidize purchases of FCVs, which analysts here see is part of the government's effort to help improve domestic automakers' international competitive capabilities as major automakers in the world are also keen to develop FCVs in a bid to grab their portion in the future of this increasingly profitable market.
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