The topic of electric vehicle (EV) is definite now in the world. Especially in China and Europe, the spread of EV is positive, and they are implementing policies that obligate EV sales in the near future. However, in fact, Japan has been working on EV earlier, where Mitsubishi Motor and Nissan Motor have started selling EV in 2009 and 2010 respectively. In order to solve the problem of EV that the cruising distance is short, and it is difficult to go far, quick charger which electricity can be store into the battery in a short time was placed nationwide.
The quick charger that compensate the weakness of EV
It is said that EV is environmentally friendly but there are weak points too. A typical example of that is “it takes time to charge”. For example, if you charge a battery with a capacity of 30kWh (equivalent to a cruising distance of 250km) with an ordinary power supply, it will take 8 hours at 200V and 24 hours if it’s 100V. Quick charger is here to eliminate that problem. With this, even the latest Nissan “Leaf” loaded with a large battery can be charged at 40 minutes, old model Leaf and Mitsubishi “i-MiEV” can be charged 80% in 30 minutes. This quick charger is installed nationwide in Japan, and its number reaches 7167 as of 23 November. It is made possible to drive long distance that greatly exceeds the possible distance of EV.。
Since there is a charging station, it is OK to drive 1200km from Tokyo to Hanamaki, Iwate by EV
For Malaysia, the distance from Perlis to Johor is also OK with EV drive
I have tried actual drive with EV on Japan road. The car is Nissan old model “Leaf”. The destination is Hanamaki, Iwate prefecture known as the home of Kenji Miyazawa, master of a Japanese fairy tale writer. With “Nissan Zero Emission (exhaust gas zero) Support Program”, Nissan is offering 2000 Yen per month to the owner of “Leaf” to use quick charger nationwide, and there is no additional charges no matter how long we drive. The location of the quick charger is displayed on the navigation system. Similarly, if you ask the Nissan operator with an in-vehicle phone, you can also use the service that remotely displays the guide to the quick charger on the car navigation system. I was able to reach Hanamaki without any hassle while doing a quick charge for 30minutes every 100-150km. It is said that from now on is the age of EV, but the EV era has already come in Japan.
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