Japan now has more electric car charge points than petrol stations

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Japan now has more electric car charge points than petrol stations

Survey finds 35,000 filling stations overtaken by more than 40,000
recharge points – although many belong to private owners

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Tuesday 10 May 2016 08.07 BST

When it comes to electric vehicles, Japan is speeding ahead of the rest of the world, blissfully free of the range anxiety that afflicts plug-in drivers elsewhere.

The country now has more electric car charging stops than petrol stations, according to a recent survey by Nissan.

The Japanese automaker, whose fully battery-powered Leaf can travel up to 172km (107 miles) on a single charge, said there were more than 40,000 places nationwide where electric car owners could recharge their vehicles, compared with fewer than 35,000 petrol stations.

While the US – where there are currently only 9,000 public charging stations but 114,500 filling stations – and other countries have been slow to develop the infrastructure to encourage electric vehicle take-up, Japanese government subsidies for people buying electric, hybrid and other low-emission cars have spawned a network of public and private power points.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/10/japan-electric-car-charge-points-petrol-stations

[scscholar]

1. Just as they did the last five times we read about it here

sigh

[R. P. McMurphy]

2. Thanks for posting.

Good news. Maybe we will able to learn from the Japanese model and implement some of it here.

[OxQQme]

3. Tesla charging stations

https://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/49.38,-66.94,25.82,-124.39?search=supercharger&name=us

[madokie]

7. Pryor, Oklahoma

just got a Tesla charging station. One of our doctors has a model S. At the hospital day before yesterday I parked beside a Tesla model S. Not the same car as the doctors either.

[progressoid]

4. Electricity generated by coal and natural gas.

After Fukushima, Japan imported and additional 10 million short tons of coal and liquefied natural gas imports rose 24% between 2010 and 2012 mostly consumed in the power sector (64%)

http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=13711

Japan ranked as the second largest net importer of fossil fuels in the world in 2012, trailing only China. This follows the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, after which Japan suspended operations at all of its nuclear power plants. The loss of nuclear capacity resulted in a shift in Japan's energy mix toward oil and natural gas. Japan is now the third largest oil consumer and importer in the world behind the United States and China. Furthermore, it ranks as the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and second largest importer of coal behind China. Japan has limited domestic energy resources, and the country meets less than 15% of its own total primary energy use from domestic sources.

Oil. Oil remains the largest source of primary energy consumption in Japan, although its share of total energy consumption has declined from 80% in the 1970s to 43% in 2011. Japan was the third largest net importer of crude oil and petroleum products in the world after the United States and China in 2012, having imported 4.6 million barrels per day (bbl/d). After Fukushima, Japan increased imports of crude oil for direct burn in power plants.

[Nihil]

6. Could be worse ...

... they could be using all that fossil-fuel derived energy to produce hydrogen for their cars ...

[NickB79]

5. How many cars can charge at each charging station at a time?

Based on what I've seen here in the Twin Cities, I'm concerned the comparison of charging stations to petrol stations presented in the article may not be suitable. Even the smallest gas stations I've encountered will 4 cars at one time, with many accommodating a dozen or more, while I have yet to encounter a charging station that will charge 4 cars at a time.

[madokie]

8. All I know is

we have to start somewhere and this is a start. Electric cars are much better for our environment than petrol cars ever will.