Japan’s EV charge stand number shrinks to less than 30,000: Reason for slow electrification

TOKYO, March 26, 2023—This is a typical case that bureaucracy kills the economy and saps the vigor of society: Japan, which was the first country that commercially used electric vehicles in the 1960s, is shrinking EV charge stations. It has a goal to increase the number but pales when compared with other leading economies, thus effectively have lost the global vehicle electrification race – and with it, eventually, the auto industry, the engine of the country’s growth.
After peaking at 30,320 in 2020, the number of EV charge stands in Japan shrank 1,087 to 29,233 in 2021, according to a geographic mapping company Zenrin.
The Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry in July 2021 set a new target of increasing the number of EV charge stands (not stations having more than two charge stands) to 150,000 by 2030, a five fold increase from 2020 as part of the national policy of urging automakers to sell only new EVs, hydrogen fuel-cell, and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2035.
EV stations that have more than one EV charge stand also decreased to 22,000 in 2021 from 25,000. And quick charge stands continued to be limited, representing about 2/5th of the 2021 total.
The number of gasoline stations has been on a steady decrease, not surprisingly, to now about 29,000.
Why EV stands are being closed? One reason is that existing stands were installed about 10 years ago with government subsidies and many are becoming too old and dangerous to continue using. EV stand durability for safe and secure use is said to be 8 years.
Then there’s the cost issue: Installing one stand costs about 5 million yen ($35,000) and the annual maintenance and repair is about 1 million yen ($7,000). Most stands aren’t used sufficiently to cover the investment and upkeep.
Disappearance of government subsidies is compounded by rigid regulations that ban installing EV stands at gasoline stations under the Fire Prevention Law.
And most quick charge stands are located at automobile dealers. If you’re driving a Toyota, you’d want to charge at a Toyota dealer, not at a Nissan dealer. It’s the natural human behavior and proving to be a small hurdle.

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