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The SAE Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) Safety Working Group has been addressing FCV safety for over 9 years. The initial document, SAE J2578, was published in 2002. SAE J2578 has been valuable as a Recommended Practice for FCV development with regard to the identification of hazards and the definition of countermeasures to mitigate these hazards such that FCVs can be operated in the same manner as conventional gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicles. SAE J2578 is currently being revised so that it will continue to be relevant as FCV development moves forward. For example, test methods were refined to verify the acceptability of hydrogen discharges when parking in residential garages and commercial structures and after crash tests prescribed by government regulation, and electrical requirements were updated to reflect the complexities of modern electrical circuits which interconnect both AC and DC circuits to improve efficiency and reduce cost.

Automotive manufacturers across the world have experienced the saturation of demand in the mature markets. Foraying into the emerging markets of India and China brings a mix of opportunities and challenges. These economies with 15%+ rising consumer demand, 7%+ rise in per-capita income and a passenger car density less than 1/8 of mature markets, hold promise of sustaining double-digit growth of vehicle sales. But the challenges are immense. Ultra-low margins of OEMs, lack of transportation infrastructure, Low level of maturity of funding operations, fragmented demand, import restrictions and mandatory export obligations pose serious constraints to non-linear growth. HONDA (Honda Siel Cars India Limited), a subsidiary of Honda Motor Corporation, Japan has developed the next generation supply chain with a strategy cognizant of the global opportunities and the local limitations which such emerging economies present.