Japan now has more electric car charge points than petrol stations

When it comes to electric vehicles, Japan is speeding ahead of the rest of the world, blissfully free of the range anxiety that affli...

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.

“An important element of the continued market growth is the development of the charging infrastructure,” Joseph G Peter, Nissan’s chief finance officer, told analysts, according to Bloomberg.

While plug-ins are becoming more affordable, potential owners are put off by the fear of finding themselves far from home and unable to recharge.

That is not a problem in Japan, where there are now 6,469 CHAdeMO quick chargers, compared with 3,028 in Europe and 1,686 in the US. When added to lower-level charging stations, the total number of power points in Japan exceeds 40,000.