Toyota Motor announced Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation (CJPT), Fukuoka Prefecture and Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) had agreed to collaborate on trials of a small hydrogen fuel cell electric bus on a new bus route to be launched in the Kyushu region later this year.
CJPT is a partnership originally established in 2021 between Isuzu Motors, Toyota Motor and Hino Motors intended to “address various challenges facing the transportation industry and contribute to the achievement of a carbon-neutral society”. Daihatsu Motor and Suzuki joined the partnership later that year, while Hino was expelled in 2022 following its emissions cover-up scandal.
The bus trials would be the first implementation of a recent agreement between the three parties and take place this summer on a new route on Hitahikosan Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, with the aim of bringing “fuel-cell mobility to local transportation”.
The trials were expected to herald the introduction of a commercial bus service using next generation, small fuel cell buses. In particular, they are intended to deepen awareness of hydrogen as a future energy source (much favoured by Toyota Motor in particular – ed) and to verify the feasibility of adopting fuel cell mobility.
