Carmakers, Tokyo Electric Team up on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

KAWASAKI Japan August 6, 2009; Japan Today reported that three Japanese automakers and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said Wednesday they will team up to spread and standardize infrastructure like battery chargers for electric vehicles to remove one of the biggest barriers to making the zero-emission cars mainstream. Nissan Motor Co, Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, which currently all employ fast-speed battery chargers developed by TEPCO, agreed with the utility firm to set up a committee during the current business year through next March.

‘‘One of the critical challenges to promoting electric cars will be to standardize infrastructure like the charging machines,’’ Fuji Heavy Corporate Senior Vice President Akira Mabuchi told reporters. Mitsubishi Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries have rolled out their own plug-in electric cars—the i-MiEV and the Subaru Plug-in Stella—mainly to corporate customers in Japan from earlier this summer.

Nissan, the country’s third-largest automaker, also recently unveiled its hatchback-type electric vehicle Leaf, which it plans to launch in Japan, the United States and Europe in late 2010. But quick charging stations for the EVs, powered by lithium ion batteries, are still scarce in Japan.

In fiscal 2009, TEPCO plans to make 310 of its 8,500 commercial vehicles electric and acquire 43 quick chargers, each costing about 3.5 million yen.