A review of activities carried out and future hydrogen projects in the region were the topics at the centre of a meeting in Bolzano, which Toyota also attended. The carmaker also signed an agreement in Japan with 10 other companies for the large-scale construction of hydrogen stations across the country.
Ten hydrogen cars, five fuel cell buses and one million kilometres driven at zero emissions: these are hydrogen's figures for Alto Adige, presented at a meeting organised on 18 May by the Centro H2 in Bolzano to review all the activities carried out so far and the upcoming projects that will concern the region, and to ask questions about the mobility of the future: is a truly eco-sustainable system possible? Will hydrogen find an adequate network in which to develop? And what milestones has hybrid technology reached?
The meeting was attended by the President of the Province Arno Kompatscher, the assessors for Mobility and the Environment, Florian Mussner and Richard Theiner, the top management of Autobrennero Spa, Alperia and SASA, and representatives of South Tyrolean businesses; Toyota was also present to share its experience on sustainable mobility, a front on which the Japanese carmaker has always been engaged. "Thanks to the hybrid, which in 2017 marks 20 years since its introduction, we have revolutionised the way people drive – declared Andrea Saccone, Service Excellence & Innovation General Manager Toyota Motor Italia – making it possible to save as much as 77 million tonnes of CO2. In 2016 we reached the important milestone of ten million hybrid cars sold worldwide, with the goal of reaching fifteen million by 2020. With the hybrid we have therefore created the best possible present, and the figures in Italy bear witness to this: we have reached a market share of 3 per cent."
Attention is now increasingly focused on the future and on the Mirai, the first production hydrogen saloon made by Toyota, which today boasts 3,000 units in circulation worldwide: "With the Mirai we are now continuing our work towards ever greater zero emissions, because we believe in the widespread use of a resource as important as hydrogen. To achieve this, we have worked hard and continue to do so, alongside the institutions. Thanks to the Government and Parliament, Italy is aligning itself with other European countries where the use of hydrogen is already an established reality." Only when our country updates its technical regulations on hydrogen refuelling stations will it be possible to begin building an adequate network to refuel tanks at 700 bar in complete safety: the goal is to have, by 2025, a sufficient number of stations and thereby transpose the Directive on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (DAFI).
Meanwhile on the other side of the world, in Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation and ten other companies have signed a cooperation agreement for the large-scale construction of hydrogen stations to refuel fuel cell vehicles. The initiative forms part of the Japanese government's "Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells", which aims to reach a total of 160 refuelling stations and 40,000 hydrogen vehicles by 2020. In order to accelerate this process, the eleven companies that signed the agreement are evaluating the creation of a new company whose objectives would include streamlining the construction of refuelling stations by implementing measures to support their establishment and operation, and enabling the widespread uptake of fuel cell vehicles by making the refuelling station business self-sustaining through increased efficiency and reduced operating costs. All of this so that a society based on the regular use of hydrogen can truly become a reality.
