In the overall competition between lithium batteries and hydrogen fuel cells, the current momentum of the lithium battery camp is higher than that of the hydrogen fuel cell camp. The Japanese automobile industry, which mainly focuses on hydrogen fuel cells, has to launch lithium battery electric vehicles. If the hydrogen fuel cell camp wishes to revive itself to become one of the mainstream technologies for carbon reduction, applications other than self-use passenger cars must be developed.

East Japan Railway Company (JR East) has become the latest force in hydrogen fuel cells and jointly developed a hydrogen fuel cell train with Toyota Motor and Hitachi to replace an originally diesel locomotive. Oxygenation in the air generates electricity in the process of producing water which is used to drive trains at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour.

Hydrogen fuel cell trains will not have the air pollution problem of diesel trains, as only water will be discharged, and no carbon will be emitted during driving. However, whether or not carbon emissions are generally emitted depends on the source of hydrogen. The traditional mainstream method, deriving hydrogen from the cracking of fossil fuels, still has carbon emissions in the production process. For green energy power generation, green hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water can be counted as zero carbon emissions, or a compromise with fossil fuels. "Blue hydrogen” is manufactured with carbon capture and carbon storage but whether "blue hydrogen" is considered a carbon reduction method is still debatable in Europe and the United States.

However, before JR East can solve the fundamental problem of this hydrogen "blue-green battle", it has to face regulatory issues. Japan itself is one of the main countries in which government policies vigorously promote hydrogen fuel cells, and has already approved hydrogen fuel policy support. Hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars and buses have long been on the road but regulations have not yet approved hydrogen fuel cell trains.

JR East needs to apply for a regulatory exemption for the launched hydrogen fuel cell train prototype before it can get on track. JR East plans to start testing in March 2022 and officially operation is expected in 2030.

(Image: JR-East)