Aiming to cash in on a major push by South Korea to promote fuel cell vehicles, ...
SEOUL - Aiming to cash in on a major push by South Korea to promote fuel cell vehicles, Sung Won-young opened a hydrogen refueling station in the city of Ulsan last September. Just one year on, he’s thinking about closing it down.
Even so, Sung hasn’t been able to turn a profit, hamstrung as the equipment can only refuel a limited number of cars each day and by the government’s decision to set retail hydrogen prices low to bring consumers on board. That’s no mean feat given fewer than 3,000 have been sold so far. Japan, also a big proponent of FCVs and with an auto market three times larger, plans 800,000 in the same timeframe.
Subsidies cut Nexo’s price by half to about 35 million won and sales of the model, launched in March 2018, have surged this year. In contrast, Japanese subsidies fund one third of Toyota Motor Corp’s Mirai FCV, bringing its price to around $46,200. One month later, there was an explosion at a hydrogen refueling station in Norway. This week, a hydrogen gas leak and subsequent fire at a South Korean chemical plant caused three workers to suffer burns.
“This will only increase the burden for taxpayers who have to pay for the government’s hydrogen society splurge,” said Ryu Yen-hwa, a former Hyundai Motor engineer and auto analyst who believes FCVs do not make commercial sense.
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