Nikkei reports that Honda Motor Company, working with Kagoshima University and Yakushima Denko Co, has conducted field trials of a fuel cell vehicle that runs on hydrogen produced using Yakushima Island's abundant water resources. The trials gave a glimpse of a future hydrogen-based society because the rare experiment involved running the vehicle without using any fossil fuels.

Honda's FCX fuel cell vehicle arrived in Yakushima on April 16. The small island just south of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, is a little over 100km in circumference but has mountains 2000 metres tall. Its annual rainfall reaches 8000mm, and thanks to its abundant water resources all households on the island are powered by hydro- electric power.

This electricity was used by the team's hydrogen station, which produced hydrogen through electrolysis. No carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, was emitted in the production process. Next to the station was a hydrogen supply unit able to store 100 cubic metres of the substance at a pressure of 350 atmospheres. Theoretically, this is enough to fill the FCX twice and drive 400km with the vehicle. The hydrogen-producing equipment had to run for two days straight to produce this amount.

The vehicle itself emits only water. Honda's intention in the trials was to check the performance of the vehicle through repeated driving tests, and Yakushima Denko hoped to improve its hydrogen production and storage technologies with an eye on the eventual arrival of a clean-energy society.

The university, which put up more than 50 million yen, was the matchmaker that brought the parties together. The three parties finished the trials in a week and said they hope that one day all 9500 vehicles on the island will be powered by fuel cells.