Asia Bizz: Japanese automobiles manufacturer, Suzuki Motors, will soon be establishing a joint venture company, SMILE FC System Corporation along with Intelligent Energy Holdings PLC of the UK – which develops Fuel cell system. The two companies have come together for developing and manufacturing fuel cell systems.
The companies have been exhibiting co-developed motorcycles equipped with air cooled fuel system at the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Tokyo Motor Show. They have also earned Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) in the month of March 2011 for the world’s first cell vehicle known as BurgmanFuel Cell Scooter.
In the European union, a vehicle model without Whole Vehicle Type Approval must gain National Type Approval in each member state where it is to be sold. The WVTA enables the model to be sold in all the member states.
The joint venture company will be established in February 2012 and will speed up the commercialized product by combining the fuel cell development technology of IE. The joint venture will also control production technologies of Suzuki.
