Honda Motor Co. leased out a fuel-cell vehicle Tuesday to Iwatani International Corp., company officials said.
Akiji Makino, president of the major industrial gas company, and Hiroshi Okubo, senior managing director of Honda, attended a ceremony marking the delivery of the FCX car at a hydrogen station in Tokyo set up under the initiative of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for promoting fuel-cell vehicles with hydrogen.
Iwatani International is leasing the car for 800,000 yen a month and will mainly use it for promotional events, according to company officials.
The company was involved in constructing the hydrogen station and is in charge of providing it with hydrogen and maintaining the machinery.
Fuel-cell vehicles are widely viewed as the most promising pollution-free vehicles for the future, as they are powered by electricity generated through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen and emit only water.
Honda and Toyota Motor Corp. launched the world's first commercially produced fuel-cell vehicles in December. They have been leased to government agencies.
Last Wednesday, GM offered a fuel-cell vehicle on loan for free to the Japanese branch of Federal Express.