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Japan Now Has More Car Charging Points Than Gas Stations

Posted by Soulskill on from the plugging-their-new-toy dept.

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."

11 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. Not quite comparable by rossdee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    At a gas station it doesn't take you long to fill your tamk. Charging an electric vehicle takes a lot longer so theres less turnover.
    (Perhaps even all day, or at least all 8 hrs of a shift)

    1. Re:Not quite comparable by runningduck · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, however you very rarely need to go to a public charge station. Most charging is done at home while you sleep or for some people while they work. I understand that this is not practical for apartment dwellers, but keep in mind that any standard outlet can recharge the typical driving range over night; no charge station needed.

      A more important metric might be how many public charge stations are necessary compared to gas stations.

      --
      -rd
    2. Re:Not quite comparable by buchner.johannes · · Score: 4, Informative

      At a gas station it doesn't take you long to fill your tamk. Charging an electric vehicle takes a lot longer so theres less turnover.
      (Perhaps even all day, or at least all 8 hrs of a shift)

      It takes 1 minute, 30 seconds.
      A electric charging "gas station" could just replace the batteries in cars and charge its pool of batteries independent of the cars.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
    3. Re:Not quite comparable by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    4. Re:Not quite comparable by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

      and yet, the electric cars charge at nighttime at home, while the gas cars MUST go for fill-ups.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    5. Re:Not quite comparable by eth1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually if you're comparing it to public filling stations, number of cars filled per hour or per day would probably be a better comparison.

      A single gas pump can probably do about 12 cars per hour (5 minutes for the full transaction). If it takes 6 hours to charge a car, that single pump could fill as many cars as 72 charging stations. Or 7.2 or so 30-minute Supercharger stations (6 + 20%, since it doesn't fill to full, and you'd have to stop and tie up another charging station sooner).

    6. Re:Not quite comparable by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 3, Funny

      And electricity is free, which is why there is no need for an attendant? I think if I lived in Japan, I would buy an old jalopy car that run on gasoline, load it up with batteries to charge at the 'free' charging station and park the old jalopy next to my house. Free electricity for my house!

  2. Really? by DeathSquid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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?

  3. Norway by rarruda · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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").

  4. Re:Sharing Economy? by Smidge204 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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=

  5. Re:Points vs. stations by OldSport · · Score: 4, Informative

    *Very* few people commute on the shinkansen in Japan, and the distances you're talking about would run around $200 USD per day. I can't think of a single person I knew during my 10 years living in the country who commuted on the shinkansen. If such a commute became necessary a company would just foot the bill for a small apartment and relocate the employee.

    Commuting by car is what is actually rare in Japan. In such an urbanized country, with such a robust public transport system, nearly everyone takes the train, or the subway, or the bus. Only in the boondocks do you find the majority of people commuting by car.

    Two hour commutes on NORMAL trains, however, are not rare.