Japanese Companies to Gather Data on EV Drivers' Use of Rapid Chargers
By John O'Dell August 13, 2009
It seems Japan is really getting serious about this EV business.
Mistubishi's i-MIEV electric car now comes with a rapid-charging port as Japan begins studying fast-charging systems to make EV driving more accessible.
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Both Mitsubishi and Subaru are marketing small electric city cars in the Tokyo-Yokohama area, Nissan is following with its full-service, five-seat Leaf next year and now a trio of companies including Nippon Oil are launching a national test of rapid charging systems for EVs.
The six-month test of EV chargers for Japan's Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry will be conducted in five of Japan's largest prefectures (like counties in the U.S.) and participants will be given (yes, given) Mitsubishi i-MIEV electric cars to drive for the duration.
The rapid chargers, built by NEC, one of the three participating companies, will be installed in 22 of participant Nippon Oil's gas stations.
The Mitsubishi EVs driven by test participants will be equipped with navigation systems made by the third participant, Nihon Unisys. The navi systems will be used to track participant's driving and charger-use patterns.
The purpose of the test is to find out when and how often people driving EVs "fill up" their batteries and how many rapid chargers might be needed to provide Japan with a nationwide EV fueling system.
Public stations are particularly important in Japan because so many city dwellers live in high density high-rise buildings and don't have garages where private chargers could be installed.
And why, you might ask, does a gas station operator want to install electric-car chargers at its stations?
It's not because the revenue from selling electricity - there won't be any.
Instead, the gas station want EV chargers because they figure the drivers will stock up on high-margin goodies at the stations' mini-markets during the recharging sessions, which could last up to 30 minutes for a fully-depleted battery.
That's the word from Takafumi Anegawa, manager of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s EV and research and development programs.
He knows because the power company is conducting tests of its own as it trie to determine how EV use will impact Japan's power grid.
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