Set to be built in Motomiya City, Fukushima, H2 View understands the station will serve light and heavy commercial vehicles, as well as passenger cars and buses.

Scheduled to be open in the first half of 2024, the planned station will come as a first based on a collaboration between Air Liquide, Itochu Corporation and Itochu Enex Co, in 2021, to develop a competitive hydrogen supply for transport in Japan.

Read more: Air Liquide and Itochu to accelerate hydrogen mobility developments in Japan

The planned station comes in line with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Stategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, which aims to open 320 hydrogen stations in the country by 2025.

Additionally, the Fukushima region has seen various steps already having been taken in the development of its local hydrogen ecosystem. In 2021, Toyota unveiled plans to build a hydrogen-powered ‘city for a new future’ in the area, which would see the implementation of hydrogen-based deliveries at supermarkets and convenience stores.

Read more: Toyota unveils plans for another hydrogen-powered city in Japan

Virginie Cavalli, President and CEO of Air Liquide Japan, said, “The opening of the new station will meet the demand for fuel cell trucks to be deployed in Fukushima Prefecture under the initiative of Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Co., Ltd. (CJPT).

“We are pleased to announce that we have taken a big step towards the stable supply of hydrogen. This project is based on collaboration with ITOCHU Corporation, Itochu Enex and other partner companies, cooperation with related parties, and the technical capabilities of the Air Liquide Group in hydrogen mobility, as well as our contribution to efforts to improve the sustainability of Japanese society.”