Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s growth strategy, announced on Tuesday, included a call for subsidies and tax breaks for buyers of fuel cell vehicles, relaxed curbs on hydrogen fuel stations and other steps under a road map to promote hydrogen energy.

That will bolster plans by Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, and Honda Motor Co, Japan’s No.3, to start selling fuel cell vehicles in 2015. Toyota unveiled the price and design of its new fuel cell car on June 25, 2014 clearly having Tesla’s price range and fully-electric Model S in mind. Japan’s government announced significant subsidies and tax breaks to bring the cost of a fuel cell car down to about $20,000 by 2025. The government is also aiming to create 100 hydrogen fuel stations by March 2016

“To stay globally competitive, Japan cannot afford to lag behind in this area,” said Yuriko Koike, a former environment minister who heads a group of ruling party lawmakers advocating hydrogen energy. For more information click here