There are now more electric charging stations in Japan than traditional petrol stations.
Nissan found that there are now more 40,000 recharge points in the country compared to under 35,000 filling stations. In comparison, there are only 9,000 public charging stations in the US and 114,500 petrol stations.
Japan’s widespread charging network means range anxiety is not such a concern for electric vehicle drivers, who can access 6,469 CHAdeMO quick chargers, compared with 3,028 throughout the continent of Europe and 1,686 in the US. When added to lower-level charging stations, the total number of power points in Japan exceeds 40,000.
Many of these are privately owned and used by a single owner, but that is expected to be phased out in time with new technology allowing private owners to share their charging stations with other drivers, while new apps that use GPS to locate the nearest public charging station are also easing market concerns.
Elsewhere, Tesla has its own network of charging stations in the US, Japan, China and Europe, while a number of companies have announced plans to build charging infrastructures along the east and west coasts of America.