ID :
73930
Thu, 08/06/2009 - 09:34
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/73930
The shortlink copeid
Carmakers, Tokyo Electric team up on electric vehicle infrastructure+
KAWASAKI, Japan, Aug. 5 Kyodo - Three Japanese automakers and Tokyo Electric Power Co. 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.
''In this area, the industry as a whole will need to unite and cooperate,''
Nissan Senior Vice President Minoru Shinohara also said.
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.
''We want to make the quick chargers cheaper since they will spread faster if
we make them affordable,'' Nissan's Shinohara said.
Officials of the four companies did not specify where foreign automakers stand
on standardizing ways to charge the EVs, but they indicated they hope to make
the domestic standard applicable outside Japan.
''The development of electric cars will likely speed up overseas as well, so it
would be better if we have mostly the same charging system,'' TEPCO Executive
Vice President Hiroyuki Ino said.
''In the future, we would like to offer overseas the knowledge on quick
chargers we attained in Japan,'' Ino added, without clarifying whether foreign
automakers will also be invited to the committee.
==Kyodo
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.
''In this area, the industry as a whole will need to unite and cooperate,''
Nissan Senior Vice President Minoru Shinohara also said.
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.
''We want to make the quick chargers cheaper since they will spread faster if
we make them affordable,'' Nissan's Shinohara said.
Officials of the four companies did not specify where foreign automakers stand
on standardizing ways to charge the EVs, but they indicated they hope to make
the domestic standard applicable outside Japan.
''The development of electric cars will likely speed up overseas as well, so it
would be better if we have mostly the same charging system,'' TEPCO Executive
Vice President Hiroyuki Ino said.
''In the future, we would like to offer overseas the knowledge on quick
chargers we attained in Japan,'' Ino added, without clarifying whether foreign
automakers will also be invited to the committee.
==Kyodo
