ITOCHU announces building hydrogen refuelling station with Air Liquide in Japan

ITOCHU Corporation and ITOCHU ENEX Co., Ltd. announced today (1^st September) that it contributed to organizing a Motomiya Interchange Hydrogen Refueling Station project which can serve large fuel cell (FC) commercial vehicles that will be constructed by Air Liquide Japan GK

The Hydrogen Refueling Station (HRS), which will be constructed on land adjacent to Enex Fleet’s Motomiya Interchange Service Station in Motomiya-city, Fukushima Prefecture, is scheduled to start operation in the first half of 2024 as Japan’s first HRS which serves for large FC commercial vehicles and operates 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. This HRS can also provide services offered to conventional commercial vehicles, such as the carwash and the rest area, for large FC commercial vehicles.

The three companies will continue to work together to find more HRS opportunities with similar concepts that are expected to be rolled out along the highway and to attract the usage of more large-scale FC commercial vehicles.

Motomiya-city, where the HRS will be located, is in the centre of the Nakadori region of Fukushima Prefecture and is close to an important transportation hub where the Tohoku Expressway and other highways run through it.

In Fukushima Prefecture, an ongoing demonstration project to establish and implement energy management systems toward the popularization of electric vehicles is led by Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies. The HRS will supply hydrogen to some of the FC commercial vehicles to be operated by companies participating in the demonstration project.

The opening of the HRS is in line with the hydrogen/fuel cell strategy roadmap set out by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to ensure that hydrogen refuelling stations are opened in 320 locations and 200,000 FCV (fuel cell-based vehicles) are in use by 2025.

Fukushima Prefecture has been taking a range of steps toward creating a hydrogen-based society in which hydrogen is used as energy in people’s lives and for industrial purposes. We believe this project of opening a large-scale hydrogen station follows these initiatives.

Subsidies have been provided by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Fukushima Prefectural Government to construct the HRS.

Going forward, the three companies will continue to promote the development of the hydrogen market, leveraging ITOCHU’s wide-ranging networks in consumer-related sectors, Air Liquide’s expertise in the production and supply of hydrogen and the customer base and energy distribution systems of ITOCHU ENEX.