Market Overview

In Japan, utilization of hydrogen had been initially promoted mainly as an energy source in applications pioneered by Japanese companies like residential fuel co-generation system (such as a water heater system “Ene-Farm”) and fuel cell vehicles (FCV).
Since the declaration of “carbon neutrality by 2050” by the Japanese government in October 2020, hydrogen is garnering attention as a clean energy source that does not produce carbon dioxide when combusted. Along with the expansion of the moves to develop fuel cell-powered commercial/industrial machines, technology development to adopt hydrogen burning for combustors is advancing. Pioneer enterprises are embarking on pilot projects that aim to verify performance of hydrogen-powered machines, collect operational data, and accumulate know-hows in maintenance of the machines.

In this survey, we explored the progresses in product development and pilot projects of the machines and systems that use hydrogen as energy source or power source, which include electric generating system/electric generators, combustion system/combustion equipment, fuel cell trucks, fuel cell buses, fuel cell forklifts, and transportation equipment powered by fuel cell module (construction equipment and heavy farm equipment).

We forecast the domestic market of hydrogen-powered machines and systems to reach 112,300 million yen by FY2025, and 663,300 million yen by FY2030 (based on the price of machines and systems to be newly introduced for the fiscal year concerned).

Noteworthy Topics

Utilization of Hydrogen Energy in Transportation Industry

Against the backdrop of CO2 reduction needs at shippers (consigners) and net zero carbon emission policies by local governments, transportation industry is expected to utilize hydrogen as energy source hereafter.

Main applications of hydrogen-power in transportation industry are fuel cell powered vehicles and machines, and thus fuel cell trucks, fuel cell forklifts, and fuel cell transtainers have been developed.

Several transportation companies and retailers have been conducting demonstration experiment on the use of fuel cell trucks on actual deliveries. Based on the results of primary testing, these companies are expanding the geographical range of a demonstration experiment or adding more fleets for the experiment.

Fuel cell forklift and fuel cell transtainers are the machines that can contribute to the reduction of CO2 emitted during cargo handling, and for this reason, the demand is anticipated at distribution hubs like warehouses, airports, and ports. Some local governments that govern the areas where these logistics hubs are located have set out measures to promote investments in fuel cell forklifts and fuel cell transtainers.

Future Outlook

While the product development of machines and systems using hydrogen is underway, stable supply and lower procurement cost of hydrogen is still a challenge on demand side (user companies/associations). Establishment of a hydrogen supply chain is still under development, and assumably it still takes some time to create the market where massive hydrogen can be sourced economically.  

Therefore, in 2020s, there are certain demands for hydrogen-powered machines and systems that allow users to choose power sources or fuels flexibly, in accordance with the amount of hydrogen accessible and procurement cost. Reflecting such needs, manufacturers have released products like cargo handling machines that allow replacement of fossil fuel electric generator with fuel cell, and combustor equipment capable of co-firing hydrogen with other fuels.

As hydrogen production is expected to increase from 2030s on compared to 2020s and considering the possibility of bringing down hydrogen procurement costs accordingly, solid growth can be expected for the hydrogen-powered machines and systems market. We forecasted that the market size of hydrogen-powered machines and systems will be 1,076,500 million yen by FY2035, 2,040,100 million yen by FY2040, and 3,335,000 million yen by FY2050.

Research Outline