Germany to bankroll hydrogen car rollout

Germany's Transport Minister, Alexander Dobrindt, is set to announce his government will introduce a series of subsidies and financial help to introduce hydrogen-powered vehicles.

According to German newspaper, Die Welt, Dobrindt will announce measures that include a government pledge of more than €250 million ($A350 million) in 2019 alone.

The money will be used to help hydrogen fuel-cell-powered cars like Toyota's Mirai compete on more even terms with conventionally-powered petrol and diesel vehicles.

The German government will also expand the current limited infrastructure by increasing the number of refuelling stations.

Die Welt said that the German government had also agreed on a financial support program for fuel-cell cars that would also run until 2026.

Finally, any leftover funds will be invested in research and development to further improve the viability of hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Speaking to the newspaper, the German transport minister said: "With electromobility and automated and connected driving, the biggest mobility revolution since the invention of the car is ahead of us".

The sound of a large European country backing the clean fuel will be music to the ears of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, BMW and Mazda, who have all invested heavily in the fuel.

Leading the way is the Toyota Mirai that was introdued to some markets earlier this year. The Japanese car-maker claims it sold 1500 Mirais in 2016 and plans to have 30,000 on the road by 2020.

The advantages, with infrastructure in place, over a pure-electric vehicle are clear. The Mirai takes between three and five minutes to brim its 5kg tank, which provides the small sedan -- whose only emission is water vapour -- with a range of 550km.

The move to subsidise the transition to zero-emission vehicles in Europe is nothing new.

In Norway, a mixture of tax breaks, grants and incentives, plus an extensive network of charging stations has seen, in the first three months of 2016, 11,124 pure-electric vehicles registered in the Scandinavian country -- accounting for well over 24 per of all passenger car sales.

In Germany, meanwhile, in the same first three months just 0.7 per cent of all cars sold were pure-electric.

Norway, one of the world's biggest oil producers, has the world's most extensive charging network following a huge push by the country in 2009-2010 to build charging stations.

Back Down Under, there's just one hydrogen filling station for cars -- owned by Hyundai -- and the chances of government-backed grants for the clean fuel remain slim.