Electric Car Plans: Japan Readies With Charging Ports

(image courtesy of Wikipedia commons)

The Japan Times reported this week that leading supermarket chain, Aeon Co., Ltd., is contemplating setting up electric car charging ports at its supermarkets in conjunction with Japanese automobile manufacturers. The announcement comes in the wake of a bevy of plans for the commercial release of electric vehicles such as Mitsubishi's i MiEV (pictured above) and Subaru R1e from Fuji Heavy in 2009.

The first generation of electric cars may take up to 14 hours to charge at home, however Aeon is looking to install chargers that can fill up your tank, so to speak, in around one hour. Perfect for the busy shopper.

The company wants to install its first trial electric car charger near Tokyo at its Laketown Mall in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture. Depending on the feedback from the trial, Aeon may set out to set up its very own electric car charging network nationwide.

Good news for both greenies and purse-conscious drivers alike!

Brought to you by Midorty of greenz.jp

Comments

[Raymondf]

Honda has a car on the market know that runs on fuel cell uses no gas.

[balance]

A more sustainable future is within reach. -- Only if there is strong leadership and international coordination to make it happen soon.

It would be great to have wide availability of hybrid-electric cars with advanced batteries that recharge their energy from solar/wind/nuclear, and yet also have a tank of biofuel or hydrogen to provide drivers with the option of extra range. Owners could reduce electricity costs with solar panels on their homes or above their car ports.

As for the price of oil, it would be better if alternative energy was made competitve to oil through higher taxes rather than through manipulated or speculator inflated oil gouging.

It's robbery when higher costs of oil are vacuumed from the pockets of the middle class and into the coffers of speculators & OPEC. When oil costs are kept high by taxes, and the money fairly & efficiently redistributed to mass transit and tax cuts for the middle class and poor, as well as moderate tax cuts for truckers, then it's not theft; it's smart policy.

(As for waste and corruption in mass transit, that's another important issue.)

[brighterside]

Electric car batteries have come a long way and more innovative batteries are slowly starting to evolve each and every day. Don't discount the idea of electric cars as a viable future. Its easier to go home and plug in your car than to hit the gas station pump. Secondly, they can build a recharging station just about anywhere -- the shopping center, the parking lots at walmart or even at your nearest starbucks. Hydrogen cars can afford this luxury. Our gas stations have to be retrofitted for H fuel cell cars to become a viable mass market solution.

The winner of this presidential race will be the one to address our problems with oil and to propose the best solution. Hopefully Obama can address the need for more electric cars and entice the auto industry to move in that direction.

[jsarets]

"The first generation of electric cars may take up to 14 hours to charge at home"

And the second, third, and fourth generations will take even longer than 14 hours to charge at home unless homes are equipped with high-power EV circuits (at least 7.5 kW) or a second 40-60 kWh battery. Most advanced automotive lithium-ion batteries can charge in less than 10 minutes given enough power. It's the power supply that's the limiting factor.

[Myshkin57]

These compressed air cars allegedly take about four hours to fully charge from a regular outlet and have a range of about 800 miles.

http://zeropollutionmotors.us/

[TazExprez]

I saw a video that showed the hybrid gas/air model from MDI and this car could go from NY to CA on a full tank of gas.

Here is the video and at around 4:50 you see the hybrid model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0KXrDpowJk

[KillTheMessenger]

An electric car uses about 10kW during regular driving. So if you drive it for one hour a day at highway speeds, it should recharge on a 2kW outlet in 14 hours just fine. Not to mention that one can charge it just as well at work... giving another 8-10 hours of charge time.

The real problem is the question where all that clean electricity will come from? Japan's answer is probably nuclear. But how about the US?

[Ides]

Japan's also responsible for more casualties from nuclear accidents than anywhere else in Asia in the last ten years according to the IAEA. Funny that.

[totalliberal]

["It makes sense in Japan where most people don't really drive that much. "]


That will be changing here..... very soon.

[Tom95134]

It makes sense in Japan where most people don't really drive that much. Also, Japan produces the vast majority of it's electricity from nuclear power stations. To do this in the United States would mean that those coal fired plants would just be moving the pollution from one location to another and still not be addressing the issue of getting us onto renewable energy. First, we have to find ways to move towards solar power or wind power based systems and then build nuclear plants using the latest technology , not something that is 50 years old.

[Myshkin57]

Well, if we move to electric cars, we can at the same time move electric production to renewable energy. There's no reason that the change cannot be concurrent. But moving to other types of vehicles will require a lot more change in infrastructure.

Further, it does not just move pollution from the vehicle to the power plant. Electric cars actually have a net contribution of carbon that is significantly lower than gasoline-powered cars, even when the electric is generated through the use of coal. What does increase is the production of sulfur dioxide.