Is Japan ready for the EV revolution? Sure looks like it
According to a Financial Times online article, the answer to the question in the headline is yes. The EV revolution will require a lot of participants, and editor J. Soble summarizes the recent efforts from four Japanese automakers, the postal service, a utility company and the Japanese government, which are all working towards a future with a lot of electric cars on the road.
First, we have the expectations that Mitsubishi MiEV, Subaru R1e, Nissan-Renault will continue their EV projects in Japan (not just in Europe and Israel). Of course, we also await the plug-in version of the Toyota Prius. As for Japan's postal service, the company announced it will convert its 21,000 vehicle fleet to run on electrons. Utility Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has announced the development of new electric stations that could charge an EV enough to run for 40 km (26 miles) in five minutes, or up to 60 km (40 miles) in ten minutes. The company sees them in, for instance, supermarkets. The government is helping build the infrastructure as well: The Kanagawa prefecture, the region adjoining Tokyo, is providing 150 recharging stations in an effor to fulfil the Japanese Government's announcement that half of the new cars sold in 2020 will be electric. Thanks to Mark for the tip.
Gallery: Mitsubishi i MiEV - LIVE
[Source: FT]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rick 3:58PM (8/27/2008)
We'll never see that level of commiment from our government to convert to EV as long as big oil remains puppet master.
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Paul Sallmen 8:04PM (8/27/2008)
Japan's lack of natural resources is its blessing in disguise.
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Stephen 10:59PM (8/27/2008)
Not sure if the article looked at this, but another issue is generation. Japan has a lot of nuclear plants in a country riddled with fault lines. The logical thing here would be to go for geothermal, but at the moment more EVs means more nuclear plants, and more of these means more likelihood of a major earthquake taking one out with extremely environmentally unfriendly consequences.
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