JAPAN’S Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has big plans for his country to lead the way in clean cars. His bureaucrats are getting in the way.

    Abe has declared hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles “the ultimate eco car,” praising their promise for the environment and Japan’s domestic automakers, which are ahead of the pack. A symbol of the challenges he’s running into is the compact hydrogen fueling station that Honda Motor Co. is having to put on hold.

    Lengthy criteria that regulators are still finalizing after three years of deliberation is undermining interest from local governments in the stations, which would boost the appeal of Honda’s Clarity Fuel Cell sedan.

    Bureaucracy risks holding up Japan’s ambitions to lead in fuel cell vehicles and the infrastructure that refuels them, despite Abe’s pledge to ease rules when he endorsed Toyota Motor Corp.’s Mirai sedan earlier this year.

    “We are very confused and baffled by the slowness and difficulty of the regulation review,” said Naoya Toida, general manager of Honda’s smart community planning office. “The regulation is strengthening rather than easing.”

    As many as 100 local governments have hesitated from ordering Honda’s Smart Hydrogen Station until Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) implements rules that would accommodate smaller fueling facilities.

    The ministry is aware of criticism of the delay and plans to issue the final regulation by the fiscal year-end in March, Hidehiro Yajima, head of the METI’s high-pressure gas safety office.

    Abe’s government has sought to transition resource-scarce Japan to alternative energy sources and has estimated the nation’s hydrogen market could expand to 1 trillion yen (US$8.2 billion) by 2030.

    Honda developed the Smart Hydrogen Station along with Iwatani Corp., Japan’s biggest hydrogen supplier, to boost supply outside of major cities. Only two are open for testing: one in Saitama prefecture, a suburb north of Tokyo, and another in Kitakyushu, a city in southern Japan.

    Iwatani won’t disclose the price of the stations for competitive reasons, said Sumire Yamazaki, a spokeswoman. She declined to comment on the timing of sales for the stations or the METI’s rule-making process.

    While the METI has set the criteria on what materials can be used to make hydrogen storage tanks and the amount of space between stations and roads, those have applied only to larger facilities. (SD-Agencies)