The lack of support infrastructure is one of the major hurdles for alternative fuel vehicles that use batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
Honda’s vision for solar-powered home-based hydrogen production station is one effort to ease the transition from fossil to alternative fuels and now the company has revealed plans to trial a solar-powered public EV charging station and conduct testing of a range of electric vehicles and technologies in real-world urban transportation environments, starting with Japan.
The company’s Electric Vehicle Testing Program will start in the Japanese cities of Saitama, Kumagaya and Chichibu after an agreement reached in 2009 between Honda and Saitama Prefecture to collaborate on environmental issues. The ultimate goal for the program is to achieve what Honda calls “Total Energy Management”– a system that supplies households and communities with energy for personal use, while supporting a comfortable, low-carbon lifestyle.
The program will include EVs, plug-in hybrid vehicles, the EV-neo electric scooterand the Monpal ML200 4-wheel electric cart. It will also examine the effectiveness of solar power generation and other renewable energy sources along with the capability for advanced communications and telematics to improve the convenience and usability of electric vehicles for consumers.
