ENEOS Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation have entered into a cooperative venture to investigate CO2-free hydrogen generation and utilization at Woven City, Toyota’s prototype city of the future in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
They will speed efforts by managing technical logistics in collaboration with Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings, Inc. (Woven Planet).
As stipulated in the 2021 Basic Agreement, ENEOS and Toyota have chosen to begin building and operation of a hydrogen refueling station near Woven City to manufacture and provide CO2-free hydrogen to Woven City and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) (Item 1 and 2 set forth below). Additionally, they will conduct research and develop an effective hydrogen supply and demand management system in collaboration (Item 3 described below). The ENEOS hydrogen refueling station is slated to open in 2024-2025, just prior to the opening of Woven City.
Considerations to be made during the Basic Agreement’s negotiation:
- ENEOS plans to build and operate a hydrogen refueling station near Woven City.
- ENEOS will manufacture “green hydrogen” at the aforementioned station via electrolyzers and send it to Woven City for use in a stationary fuel cell generator that Toyota will place within Woven City.
- Encourage the usage of hydrogen-powered fuel cell mobility in and around Woven City. Validate a basic unit of hydrogen demand for those mobility logistics, as well as develop a system for managing supply and demand.
- Conduct collaborative advanced research on hydrogen supply at the Woven City demonstration hub.
The ENEOS hydrogen refueling station will “generate” hydrogen to suit the energy needs of “customers,” including FCEVs in and around Woven City. This relationship accelerates our progress toward a totally carbon-neutral society by facilitating and standardizing clean energy operations, first in Woven City and then throughout the world.
Toyota’s Woven City initiative aims to foster happiness through the mobility of “people,” “goods,” and “information.” It is built around three pillars. That is, a Human-Centered City that makes people happier in their daily lives by taking into account the needs of various types of people both before and during the development of technology; a Living Laboratory, a first-of-its-kind test track for mobility where researchers, engineers, and scientists demonstrate innovative ideas and future technologies both virtually and in the real world; and an Ever-Evolving City, which is based on Toyota’s kaizen (continuous improvement) philosophy.
