Betting on hydrogen fuel Cell Toyota builds its first hydrogen fuel site in Australia

At a time when traditional carmakers are pushing for electrification, Toyota is clearly an outlier, and Japan's largest carmaker has a preference for hydrogen fuel-cell cars.

Toyota opened its first commercial hydrogen refueling station in Victoria on Monday local time, and the company plans to launch 20 MIrai hydrogen-fueled vehicles in Australia in April to test the operation of the hydrogen-fueled vehicle there. Toyota has sold about 10, 000 MIrai vehicles so far, mainly in Japan and the United States, according to the data.

Matthew MacLeod, manager of Toyota's Future Technology and Mobility Division in Australia, said infrastructure has always been the biggest challenge in Australia. Therefore, the construction of hydrogen fuel stations is an important step to improve the situation.

Toyota is not the first car company to launch hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Australia. Prior to this, 20 Hyundai Nexo hydrogen-powered SUV have landed in Australia, becoming the first hydrogen fuel cell car to be officially sold in the country. Australian energy giant ActewAGL last week began selling hydrogen fuel produced by French renewable energy company Neoen to fuel modern Nexo.

Nevertheless, compared with electric cars in full swing, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are still a relatively niche market around the world. Lack of infrastructure, low resale value and the risk of hydrogen explosion have all dragged down the development prospects of hydrogen-fueled vehicles.

It is worth mentioning that among the major countries in the world, Australia has lagged behind in cutting carbon emissions, in sharp contrast to most rich countries.

According to relevant data, electric cars accounted for only 1% of all new cars sold in Australia in 2020. However, the Australian government expects electric cars to account for 26 per cent of the country's new car sales by 2030.