Toyota, Nissan, others get behind fuel cell push in Japan

TOKYO (AP) - Japan is backing a push for pollution-free vehicles that run on hydrogen and planning to build more hydrogen fueling stations so that fuel-cell vehicles on roads will grow to 40,000 by 2020, from the current handful.

The collaboration on fuel cells, announced Friday, brings together 11 companies, including automakers Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. energy and gas companies and a bank

Fuel cell vehicles are zero-emission, running on power produced when hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to create water.

Now, only a handful of such vehicles are on the roads, partly because of the scarcity of hydrogen stations.

Tokyo-based Honda, for instance has delivered only 245 of its latest Clarity fuel-cell vehicles in Japan and the U.S.