Japan: More electric car charging points than gas stations

(Baonghean.vn) - A survey shows that in Japan there are 35,000 gas stations, while the number of electric charging points is more than 40,000, although many points are privately owned.

The Japanese government's subsidy policy for people to buy electric and hybrid vehicles promotes the network of electric charging points. Photo: Getty.

The Japanese government's subsidy policy for buyers of electric or hybrid cars has rapidly increased the network of electric charging points.

When it comes to electric vehicles, Japan is a country that is making great strides compared to other countries. According to a recent survey by Nissan, the land of cherry blossoms now has more public electric charging stations than gas stations for cars in this country.

The Leaf, a Japanese electric car brand, can travel 172 km on a full charge. Leaf claims that there are more than 40,000 charging stations across Japan for electric car drivers, compared to only 35,000 gas stations.

In the US, there are currently only 9,000 public charging stations but 114,500 gas stations. In other countries, infrastructure upgrades to encourage the use of electric vehicles are also progressing slowly.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government's subsidy policy for people to buy electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles or low-emission vehicles has contributed to promoting the expansion of the network of public and private electric charging points.

In an analysis on Bloomberg, Nissan's CFO, Joseph G Peter, said that the key factor for the market to continue growing is the development of the electric charging infrastructure. Because when charging points become more popular, potential consumers will no longer have to worry about having to travel far and not being able to recharge their cars. This is clearly no longer a problem in Japan, where the country currently has 6,469 CHAdeMO fast charging stations, compared to 3,028 in Europe and only 1,686 in the US. When including charging stations that take longer to wait, the total number of charging points in Japan has exceeded 40,000.

Critics, however, say Nissan's figures take into account the large number of charging devices in residential garages, most of which are used by just one owner, while gas stations can service a much larger number of vehicles in a day.

Still, industry experts predict single charging points will quickly be replaced by the introduction of Airbnb's version of power points, which allow private owners to share their charging points with other drivers.

New apps that use GPS to locate the nearest public charging point also help alleviate users' worries about their vehicles running out of power.

Now, based on Japan's experience, other countries are also developing electric car systems. According to a recent study, by 2040 the number of consumption may reach 41 million units worldwide, and 1 in 4 cars on the road will be electric.

Tesla Motors already has its own network of charging points in the US, Japan, China and Europe, while BMW and two other companies have announced plans to build more than 100 fast-charging points along the busiest routes on the East and West coasts of the US, according to Bloomberg.

Thao Linh

(According to the Guardian)