Japan Now Has More Car Charging Points Than Gas Stations

An anonymous reader writes: One of the biggest impediments to getting more electric cars on the road is the lack of charging infrastructure. When there's a gas station every other mile and you have to struggle to find a charging station, it's difficult to make a case for convenience and reliability. But this is changing, particularly in smaller, more technologically advanced countries like Japan. Nissan found that there are now about 40,000 charging points in Japan, compared to about 34,000 gas stations. Granted, not all of those charging spots are available to the public — some are in people's homes. But it shows the infrastructure is making real gains. Also, the article suggests an Airbnb-like system may crop up for people to utilize each other's charging stations. It adds, "As charging stations become more common, electric-car support services are also emerging. Open Charge Map, for example, operates an online listing of public charging points worldwide. A mobile app combines the data with GPS technology to guide drivers to the nearest site."

Comments

Really?

[DeathSquid]

And yet I live in Tokyo and I have never seen a charging point there. Can anyone tell me where there is a public point?

Norway

[rarruda]

Norway has 1602 gas stations ( http://www.np.no/om_bensinstas... ) and 1617 charging stations with 6221 charting points ( http://www.ladestasjoner.no/ ) of which 5384 charting points are public and most are free as in beer.

While driving to most places in the country is possible with a Tesla due to its large battery pack, with most other electric cars it would still be a significant hassle to drive significant distances (over 3 hours non-stop drive) due to their limited range/battery packs.

So I guess the question even with infrastructure in place, and with enough incentives in place, is when will most manufacturers realize that range is critical into turning electric cars from a commuters vehicle into a family, general, all purpose car? (Other then Tesla, I don't really see other manufacturers really "getting it").

Re:Sharing Economy?

[Smidge204]

Well, the difference is that the cost-per mile electric driving is a fraction of the cost of gasoline.

A gallon of gasoline will get you ~40 miles in a good car. A gallon of gasoline is also ~36KWHr of energy. 36 KWHr of electric charge will get you over 108 miles in a mediocre electric vehicle.

A gallon of gasoline right now, in my area, is roughly $2.40. A kilowatt-hour of electricity, including all taxes and surcharges, is roughly $0.20. So fully charging an electric car will cost about $5 while fully refueling a normal car will cost about $25.

And as others pointed out; it needn't be for free. But at a maximum of $5 per visitor it needn't be cash either. Hell, bring a box of good cookies and I'll let you charge at my place for a few hours...

And if it's an emergency type situation, maybe a couple bucks to help someone get home isn't that bad a gesture in and of itself.
=Smidge=

Umm, SMALLER!

[holophrastic]

So, let's understand this. In smaller countries, where no one drives very far at all, and electricity is everywhere, gas is going electric. No shit. Gas requires transport, electricity does not.

Oh wait, electricity requires continuous unbroken well maintained infrastructure. So given a 2'000 mile broken road, electricity doesn't exist.

But there's something much more fundamental going on here. This isn't a question of gas or electric. This is a question of portable fuel or infrastructure energy.

I don't really care if it's gas or hydrogen or some other fuel, I'm always a big fan of the independence of carrying my own fuel. But I'm a little biased, since all mammals carry their own fuel. Maybe you'll get a different answer from your plant friends.

Re:Not quite comparable

[FatLittleMonkey]

Companies can also install them just by hiring an ordinary commercial electrician (or an industrial electrician for the fast-charge options). They don't need specific govt approval or licences, nor conduct EIS studies, nor do major construction. They can add points to light-poles in your open-air carpark, or run them along walls in a parking structure. Much less infrastructure than bowsers.

You can install an outside (unmetered) 240VAC/20A power-point for maybe $50 parts plus labour. A standard three-phase (400V/30A) box w/- EFTPOS is about $600, plus labour. A DC 30m-fast-charge station w/- EFTPOS is about $3000, plus some back-end costs for the DC. The low cost means a company can add a row of free 240V charging points just for PR, even if they don't get used much; then ramp up to faster charging and paid charging (charged charging?) once they gauge demand or the number of BEVs increases.

There's vastly less commitment required to get started. And the financial return-per-point can be vastly less for it to be worthwhile.