Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Japan now has more charging sites than gas stations, but many are private

Imad Khan
By

japan more charging stations than gas 5180303728 41862d7c1c b
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The all-electric automotive future is fast approaching, and Japan is leading the way.

The Japan Times reports that the country now has more electric vehicle charging stations than gas stations. This fact comes from Nissan, which said that there are now 40,000 fast-charging stations around the island nation. This outpaces the country’s 34,000 gas stations by a good margin. It should be noted that this figure includes charging stations both on the streets and in homes.

Recommended Videos

This is great news for Nissan, as the increased availability promises to make its all-electric Leaf even more attractive to Japanese buyers. The Leaf can travel 107 miles on a single charge, and with so many charge points, range anxiety should diminish.

Related

Granted, this number is greatly skewed by including charging stations inside private garages. But that may soon change as well. PlugShare is a website that maps out charging stations across the world, including private ones available for public use. Think of it as Airbnb for car charging. If this concept takes off, then car charging will gain the benefits of the sharing economy.

As for actual charging stations, there are a 6,469 CHAdeMO DC quick chargers in Japan. That number may look small, but compared to Europe’s 3,028 or the 1,686 in the U.S., Japan still far outpaces the rest of the world. If things continue to go this way, then Japan will be on track to have 2 million charging stations by 2020, with 50 percent of new car sales being green.

Japan has been aggressive with tax breaks and subsidies for buyers willing to make a more environmentally conscious purchase. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe boasted that as much as 3 million yen ($27,937) could be offered as subsidies to buyers. With incentives this generous, it’s easy to see why Japan has done so well in the EV space.

With Tesla aggressively pushing its all-electric vehicles in the U.S., incentives could also expand for American buyers.

H/T Transport Evolved | Photo via Portland General Electric/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Imad Khan
Imad Khan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Imad has been a gamer all his life. He started blogging about games in college and quickly started moving up to various…
This portable power station has 6 AC outlets and can charge a Tesla
this portable power station has 6 ac outlets and can charge a tesla ecoflow delta 1

Previous

Next

Read more
The three largest public EV charging networks are now working together
Two Electrify America Charging Stations.

To make owning an electric car easier, companies don't just need to increase the number of charging stations. They need to make them easier to use. Currently, many charging stations require users to hold an account with a station's operator, meaning drivers need to have multiple apps and cards to access all stations. But now two of the largest charging networks -- Electrify America and EVgo -- have signed an interoperability agreement. The deal follows previous agreements between both operators and a third network, ChargePoint.

The new agreement means that anyone who has an Electrify America account can charge at EVgo charging stations without having to set up a separate account or pay additional fees, and vice versa. Earlier this year, Electrify America announced a similar agreement with ChargePoint, which EVgo also has an interoperability agreement with. The three networks represent the majority of public charging stations in the United States, so this makes owning an electric car a lot more convenient.

Read more
Nissan and EVgo adding another 200 fast-charging stations for electric cars
nissan and evgo will add 200 dc fast charging stations for electric cars leaf at station in baker ca

Nissan and EVgo are expanding their network of DC fast-charging stations for electric cars. The two companies plan to add 200 new charging stations across the United States, according to a joint press release. Adding charging stations will make life more convenient for owners of electric cars -- such as Nissan's Leaf -- which could encourage more people to buy them.

DC fast-charging stations are aptly named. While a typical 240-volt Level 2 AC charging station takes 11.5 hours to recharge a 2019 Leaf Plus electric car's 62-kilowatt-hour battery pack, a DC fast-charging station can do an 80-percent recharge in 45 minutes, according to Nissan. Charging speed slows down after that to avoid damaging the battery pack. The charging stations will be built "all over the U.S.," Jonathan Levy, EVgo vice president of strategic initiatives, told Digital Trends.

Read more