East Asian Transportation

Coal and crude oil occupied 66% and 20%, respectively, of China’s total primary energy supply in 2016. The share of natural gas was only 6%, and the same niche was occupied by renewables. In 2016 the country imported 68% of crude oil and 36% of natural gas consumed (6). According to China’s energy strategy, by 2030 at least 20% of primary energy supply should be provided by renewables, and GHG intensity of gross domestic product (GDP) should be 60–65% lower than the 2005 level (16).

China’s road transport leads fuel consumption within the transportation sector, followed by aviation and water transport (Table V). The transport sector consumed 10% of the country’s total primary energy supply (6) and produced 844 million tonnes of GHG emissions in 2016 (9% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions in China in that year), including 698 million tonnes from road transportation. International marine and aviation traffic added another 31 million tonnes and 26 million tonnes of GHG emissions, respectively (7).

Diesel, gasoline and natural gas are the main types of fuel for road transport in China. Noteworthy, the role of vehicles using natural gas, the most carbon-efficient fossil fuel, is visible in the structure of fuel consumption and the structure of vehicle park by fuel type (Table VI). A good potential for fuel switching and decarbonisation exists in rail transport, such as railway electrification and introduction of LNG and hydrogen locomotives. However, the role of coal in electricity generation should be taken into consideration if ‘well-to-wheel’ carbon emissions for transportation are accounted, as the share of this carbon-intensive fuel in power plants energy mix is more than two-thirds (6).

The National Development and Reform Commission under the State Council is a government institution responsible for energy strategy and the development of five year energy plans. The policy of promoting transport decarbonisation is conducted on a national level by The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the National Energy Administration. Provincial and municipality governments have similar bodies in charge of developing and conducting decarbonisation policy at their levels. In 2018 the China Hydrogen Alliance was established by state-owned China Energy Investment Corporation and 18 other sponsors. The aim is to enhance the development of China’s hydrogen sector by providing policy advice and serving as a platform to coordinate efforts for the development and commercialisation of hydrogen technologies. The alliance is supported and supervised by the Ministry of Science and Technology and other government bodies (18). The Society of Automotive Engineers of China, a national academic organisation founded in 1963, facilitates scientific and technical progress in the automotive industry. The society organises conferences, seminars and in-service training, establishes relationships with foreign societies of automotive engineers and represents China in IEA’s Electric Vehicles Initiative, IEA’s Technology Collaboration Program on Advanced Fuel Cells and in other activities connected with ‘new energy vehicles’ technologies (19).

The energy development strategy action plan for the period 2014–2020, adopted by the State Council in 2014, declares fuel substitution and a robust development of electric vehicles, hybrid and natural gas vehicles and ships. The development of clean vehicle production, strengthening fuel consumption standards and environmental security standards on transport are also highlighted. The document also included hydrogen FCs in the 20 key technologies to be developed (20).

China’s decarbonisation policy under consideration within Central Government is to ban sales and even production of internal combustion engine cars in the foreseeable future (21).

China is a world leader in BEV stock (4) and sales (21) as well as in electric vehicle supply equipment stock (Table II). To date the FCEV technologies are mostly at the development stage. However, the characteristics of SAIC Motor’s (a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer) newest FCEV model Roewe 950 are close to those of Toyota (Japan), Honda (Japan) and Hyundai (South Korea) (22). FCEVs in China are now at the early commercialisation stage, as their stock in the country accounts for just 63 units by the end of 2018 (23).

In 2013 China developed its first FC locomotive. In 2015 Tsinghua University, China, and Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer CRRC Corporation Limited produced a FC tram. In 2016 CRRC’s subsidiary produced a hybrid tram powered by hydrogen cells and a supercapacitor, which has been run on Tangxu Railway from October 2017 (22, 24). The same year CRRC awarded a contract to supply eight hydrogen FC trams for a new light rail line in Foshan (25). Luzhou, Taizhou and other cities are also planning to put into operation hydrogen-powered trams (22).

The Chinese hydrogen FC roadmap began to take shape in the late 1990s, however, research and development (R&D) activities had been carried out before (26). In 2015 the Chinese government prepared a strategy plan “Made in China 2025”, where key strategic high-technology industries were pointed out. The plan highlights the importance of BEVs and FCEVs and urges the development of a full value chain within the country’s automobile industry (27). Currently, the supportive measures to promote FCEVs include:

According to the roadmap, prepared by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China in 2016 (32), the cost of hydrogen commercial vehicles and passenger cars will decrease significantly (by 2.5 and 1.7 times, respectively) in the coming decade, FCEV stock will reach 5000 by 2020, 50,000 by 2025 and 1 million by 2030; there will be 100, 350 and 1000 HRS nationwide, respectively. Similar scope is defined in the “White Paper on China’s Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Industry”, issued by China Hydrogen Alliance in 2019: the number of FCEVs will rise from 2000 in 2019 to 50,000 by 2025, to 1.3 million by 2035 and to 5 million by 2050. The number of HRS will grow from 23 in 2019 to 200 by 2025, to 1500 by 2035 and to 10,000 by 2050 (22).

Some features of transport decarbonisation in China:

Japan is crucially dependent on energy imports, and more than 80% of electricity in Japan is produced by thermal power plants (6). Almost 20% of anthropogenic GHG emissions in Japan is attributed to transport, including 17% due to road transportation services (7).

The fuel consumption in the Japanese transport sector is dominated by road vehicles, followed by aviation and sea traffic (Table VII). The fuel consumption of the international sector (international bunkering) significantly exceeds that of the national transport system. Rail transport in Japan is almost entirely electrified, which results in the lowest carbon intensity of all transportation modes.

At the end of May 2019 Japan had 82 million vehicles, including 62 million cars (of which 42 million are small and light), 14.4 million trucks (including 11.6 million LCVs)), 0.23 million buses, 1.8 million special application vehicles and 3.7 million motorcycles. Sales of new BEV and PHEV, shared almost equally, reached some 50,000 in 2017–2018.

Japan is the third largest vehicle producer in the world after China and the USA. In 2018 11.9 million cars, more than 90,000 buses, 1.3 million trucks and 0.3 million LCV were manufactured in Japan. The share of hybrid cars production in 2014 to 2018 was between 17% and 20% (2, 4, 34–36).

On 8th November, 2016, Japan adopted The Paris Agreement within the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (37). The Government of Japan plans to reduce GHG emissions by 26% by 2030 and by 80% by 2050 (38, 39).The concept for a sustainable circular society in Japan, where hydrogen is instrumental as a new energy carrier, is at the core of the Japanese energy strategy (15). The action plan for the implementation of hydrogen society was elaborated in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima disaster (40).

Japan currently acts as an international icebreaker, capturing leadership positions in the hydrogen energy systems development at a national level. This East Asian economy provides an example of energy institutions reformation to introduce a ‘new’ energy carrier: hydrogen. The energy strategy for Japan is driven by necessity to secure the country’s energy supply, to reduce imports of fossil fuels, to ensure compliance with the Paris Agreement and to catch the opportunity for development of a high-technology energy-related industrial sector, including powertrains and auxiliary equipment for mobility applications. The amended Strategic Energy Plan (41) with a vision to 2050 was adopted by the Government of Japan in July 2018. The document emphasises the challenges of energy transition and decarbonisation for “Japan’s electric power, thermal, and transportation systems”. In regard to transport sector policy the Government of Japan states it will apply the potential of technology innovations in electrification and hydrogenation.

The issue is that in order to introduce hydrogen as a new commercial energy carrier a complicated and extensive infrastructure along the whole hydrogen supply chain must be established, and many institutional and technical regulations should be introduced. Pointing out the importance of a holistic approach to complex energy issues at the consumer end:

The Strategic Energy Plan does not exclude future introduction of biodiesel fuel “taking into consideration international trends”, while natural gas is expected to be increasingly used as fuel in the transportation sector, including ships. However, the strategic goal is to increase the ratio of next-generation vehicles in production by 50–70% by 2030. Under next-generation technologies advanced batteries, FCs and hydrogen high-pressure tanks are considered. The Strategic Energy Plan incorporates the Basic Hydrogen Strategy, adopted in December 2017 (42). Pursuant to the latter, Japan will accelerate an expansion of demand for hydrogen in transportation, concentrating on FCEV for cars, buses and trucks. In the spring of 2016 the national-scale showcase for hydrogen driven transportation systems was declared for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. It is considered as a landmark for the country: “The 1964 Tokyo Olympics left the Shinkansen high-speed train system as its legacy. The upcoming Olympics will leave a hydrogen society as its legacy”, Yoichi Masuzoe, Tokyo Governor (43).

In March 2019 a hydrogen and fuel cell action plan was developed by the Government of Japan. It will coordinate and facilitate actions by industry, academia and government for hydrogen-related technology and infrastructure development up to 2030 (40, 44). While the primary object for hydrogen technologies in the transportation sector are road vehicles, the next step is expected in developing shipping applications (40).

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) is a major actor, responsible for design and implementation of the national hydrogen programme under guidance of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The Council for Electrified Vehicle Society was inaugurated in July 2019, “aiming to establish a society in which low carbonization, dispersed energy sources, robust vehicles and energy are integrated” to proactively engage the Government of Japan, METI, car manufacturers, energy companies and municipalities “in efforts for taking advantage of xEVs” (45).

At the beginning of 2018 there were 2926 FCEVs in Japan, including 18 commercial buses in Tokyo. The next milestones are 40,000 FCEV in 2020, 200,000 in 2025 and some 0.8 million in 2030. Projections for FCEV stock in 2050 vary between 8 million vehicles for the reference scenario, to an optimistic 16 million. The number of city buses and fork-lifts should grow to 1200 and 10,000 in 2020 and 2030, respectively. Japan had 108 HRS nationwide as of June 2019; the number of HRS is expected to reach 160 in 2020, and double in the next five years (40).

Toyota planned to roll out 100 hydrogen FC buses to shuttle visitors between venues at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Then, for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, “more than 1,000 buses are planned in partnership with Beiqi Foton Motor Co which aims to make the most of a push by China to start adopting the zero-emissions technology”. To date, “Toyota has sold fewer than 10,000 of the Mirai”, a reflection of “insufficient refuelling stations [network], consumer worries about resale values and concerns over the risk of hydrogen explosions”. However, the Japanese government “sees hydrogen as a key way to reduce its reliance on oil” (46). Japan’s Toyota is expanding semi-truck manufacturing in the USA in cooperation with Kenworth, utilising an upscaled version of the hydrogen powertrain in Toyota’s Mirai FC passenger car (47). The East Japan Railway Company tested its own version of a FC locomotive for the first time in 2017. In 2019, repeated tests were carried out with an improved version of the electric motor (48, 49).

While the energy supply of the transport sector in South Korea is 85% based on the consumption of petroleum products (Table VIII) (50), the passenger rail network is characterised by a high degree of electrification (51). Due to international bunkering activity in South Korea and the share of South Korea in global shipbuilding, implementation of low carbon technologies in marine transportation is an important driver for the country’s energy policy.

South Korea’s road fleet includes more than 23 million vehicles: 19.5 million cars and vans, 3.6 million trucks and 91,000 special vehicles. There are 53,071 EVs, 5890 PHEVs and 900 FCEVs in South Korea (4, 23, 52). Currently 18 HRS are operational in South Korea (53).

As a technologically advanced economy and one of the world leaders in several energy-intensive industries, South Korea is facing the need to improve energy and environmental safety. Since 2008, the South Korean government has implemented a ‘green society’ policy.

In January 2019 the government announced the setting up of the development plan “Roadmap to Become the World Leader in the Hydrogen Economy” (54, 55). South Korean decarbonisation measures for the road transportation sector include several major options:

The plan includes such goals as:

New partnership H2KOREA was established to improve coordination between government agencies and private business. Members of H2KOREA are governmental and administrative authorities (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, town councils of Ulsan, Incheon and Daegu), research institutions (Institute for Advanced Engineering and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science) and industrial companies (Hyundai, Hyosung and Doosan Fuel Cell Co Ltd). The main goals for H2KOREA are state support and participation in the formation of legislation in the field of hydrogen technologies (57).

The sales of Hyundai’s NEXO FCEV accelerated in 2019. While less than 1000 hydrogen cars had been sold annually since 2013, by May 2019 the cumulative number of sold vehicles since the start of 2019 had already exceeded this level (58).

In order to meet the government plans to purchase a total of 802 hydrogen buses for the police force by 2028, Hyundai Motor unveiled an upgraded version of a FC electric bus. A test-run of the vehicles will be conducted during 2020, and production will commence in 2021 (59).

Hydrogen powered drones are available for purchase in South Korea. It is announced that the drone’s flight time is up to 110 min and the payload is up to 3 kg (60).

Samsung Heavy Industries became the first shipbuilder to develop a crude oil tanker powered by FCs. The oil-based power generators in the tanker are replaced by solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) using LNG as fuel. “Being the first shipbuilder to secure this marine FC technology illustrates that Samsung Heavy is highly likely to lead the market,” said Kyunghee KIM, Vice President of SHI International Corp, USA (61).

Hyundai announced key investments into three hydrogen companies to strengthen its leadership position in the global hydrogen FC ecosystem (62). South Korean Hyundai Motor Group is conducting research to create a hydrogen train; the completion of the project was announced for late 2020 (63).

Taiwan has over 21 million vehicles, including 35,000 buses, 1.1 million trucks, 7 million cars and about 13.5 million motorcycles and scooters (64). The main fuel for road transport is petroleum products, and international bunkering for air and sea traffic overwhelmingly exceeded that of the national transport system (Table IX). Despite an almost complete absence of domestic shipbuilding, road vehicle and aviation manufacturing, there is plenty of room for efforts to shift energy demand in transportation from petroleum to natural gas, electricity and hydrogen, both for national and international transport systems.

A new Taiwan government, formed in 2016, announced a course to strengthen the development of renewable energy and decarbonisation of transport with the widespread use of green technologies, including FC. There is no officially published energy strategy regarding renewable energy, with the exception of establishing the Taiwan Energy and Carbon Reduction Office in 2016. The main organisations responsible for shaping Taiwan’s carbon-free transport policy are the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan Hydrogen Industrial Development Alliance and the Taiwan Power Company. However, the proposed plans for the development of carbon-free transport face serious bureaucratic obstacles, caused by the national monopoly’s unwillingness to deal with new participants in the electricity market (65).

In 2017 a governmental programme to reduce transport taxes for low-carbon vehicles was adopted, focusing on private cars and scooters. According to this programme, a significant increase in ZEV by 2025 should be achieved by introducing 6000 vehicles and 150,000 motorcycles and mopeds running on lithium-ion batteries. The subsidy mechanism is under discussion to motivate domestic companies working in the sphere of carbon-free transport.

Given the high density of the urban population and the number of agglomerations, the authorities of large municipalities are inclined to road extension, rather than infrastructure development for electric and hydrogen vehicles.

In 2015 the Environmental Protection Administration presented a plan for the development of a comfortable and safe urban environment. In 2018, there were already 1800 electric charging stations, and the plan is to increase their number to 5000 units over the next 5–7 years (66). A choice of scooters as a main target of carbon-free technology development looks justified by its convenience for transportation in the warm climate, as well as Taiwan’s dependency on imported road vehicles.