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Transportation Japan Power

Japan Now Has More Car Charging Points Than Gas Stations 215

Posted by Soulskill from the plugging-their-new-toy dept.
An anonymous reader writes: One of the biggest impediments to getting more electric cars on the road is the lack of charging infrastructure. When there's a gas station every other mile and you have to struggle to find a charging station, it's difficult to make a case for convenience and reliability. But this is changing, particularly in smaller, more technologically advanced countries like Japan. Nissan found that there are now about 40,000 charging points in Japan, compared to about 34,000 gas stations. Granted, not all of those charging spots are available to the public — some are in people's homes. But it shows the infrastructure is making real gains. Also, the article suggests an Airbnb-like system may crop up for people to utilize each other's charging stations. It adds, "As charging stations become more common, electric-car support services are also emerging. Open Charge Map, for example, operates an online listing of public charging points worldwide. A mobile app combines the data with GPS technology to guide drivers to the nearest site."
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Japan Now Has More Car Charging Points Than Gas Stations More

Japan Now Has More Car Charging Points Than Gas Stations

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  • Not quite comparable (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @11:47AM (#49054749)

    At a gas station it doesn't take you long to fill your tamk. Charging an electric vehicle takes a lot longer so theres less turnover.
    (Perhaps even all day, or at least all 8 hrs of a shift)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Also, wouldn't it be better to compare it to the total number of pumps?

      • Re:Not quite comparable (Score:5, Insightful)

        by eth1 ( 94901 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @02:30PM (#49055693)

        Actually if you're comparing it to public filling stations, number of cars filled per hour or per day would probably be a better comparison.

        A single gas pump can probably do about 12 cars per hour (5 minutes for the full transaction). If it takes 6 hours to charge a car, that single pump could fill as many cars as 72 charging stations. Or 7.2 or so 30-minute Supercharger stations (6 + 20%, since it doesn't fill to full, and you'd have to stop and tie up another charging station sooner).

        • that single pump could fill as many cars as 72 charging stations

          Sure, but the gas pump costs far more, a gas station takes up valuable retail space, and requires an attendant. Electric charging stations are installed in garages and parking lots, where cars are sitting anyway, so they take up a negligible amount of net space.

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by Bing Tsher E ( 943915 )

            And electricity is free, which is why there is no need for an attendant? I think if I lived in Japan, I would buy an old jalopy car that run on gasoline, load it up with batteries to charge at the 'free' charging station and park the old jalopy next to my house. Free electricity for my house!

            • And electricity is free, which is why there is no need for an attendant?

              Some of them are indeed free. For most, you insert a credit card to pay. Either way, there is no need for an attendant. I have never seen an attendant at an electric charging station. Attendants at gas stations are not there to prevent people from stealing gas, they are there for safety.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sangui5 ( 12317 )
      Not only that, but basically all gasoline cars have better range than the electric ones, which means a longer time between gas-tank fills vs charge-ups.

      So, each chargepoint needs to be used more often, and for far far longer. Calling it "not quite comparable" is quite the understatement.
      • And a petrol station tends to service several cars simultaneously - from a couple to several dozen - charge points, not so much.
        • with far more ICE cars on the road, you are far more likely to find a station that will have a 5-10 minute waiting line, while you will rarely not find an empty charger (since at nearly all places, they have at least 2 charge points).

      • Re:Not quite comparable (Score:5, Insightful)

        by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @01:52PM (#49055447) Journal
        and yet, the electric cars charge at nighttime at home, while the gas cars MUST go for fill-ups.

    • Re:Not quite comparable (Score:5, Insightful)

      by runningduck ( 810975 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @12:09PM (#49054865)

      Yes, however you very rarely need to go to a public charge station. Most charging is done at home while you sleep or for some people while they work. I understand that this is not practical for apartment dwellers, but keep in mind that any standard outlet can recharge the typical driving range over night; no charge station needed.

      A more important metric might be how many public charge stations are necessary compared to gas stations.

      • Exactly.

        As for "topping off" during the day, why not just use a regular outlet? A special outlet isn't economical.

        The target for electric cars is as a 2nd or 3rd car for a family. They'd still have a primary gas car for long trips.

        • If we change our subsidy structure to encourage 150 MPC, it will lead to electric cars bring the primary cars, while gas becomes the secondary .

          • I'd prefer just eliminating the subsidies so that my taxes go down.

            • Actually, if we drop all of the energy subsidies, your money spent will go WAY up. The good news though, is that AE would suddenly take off since it is no longer competing against heavily subsidized fossil fuel.

      • A more important metric might be how many public charge stations are necessary compared to gas stations.

        One factor is length of charge. Number of gas pumps in a station is selected to service customers and prevent waiting. Customers don't like to wait for more than one person in front of them, and you usually don't have to wait.

        Since charge times are longer, customers will want to connect immediately and not wait for 15 minutes just to start charging. So, in that regard, you would want more stations relative to the number of customers in a given timeframe, so there would zero waiting. How many that is, I h

        • You don't necessarily need more stations. Because you aren't dealing with a dangerous product you can easily redesign the layout of your station to accommodate more vehicles at one time. Instead of the normal four or six pumps (at least it's normal for around my area) you could have parking spaces for fifteen or twenty cars with chargers. Then you spruce up your convenience store to make the time spent while waiting for the car to charge go by a bit easier. Maybe have a spot to socialize or a sit down

          • Captive market!

          • You aren't limited to the old model.

            I tend to see it as more disruptive. Sure, the gas stations can spruce up their store, what if the local mall installs a couple hundred* chargers? What if you're trying to decide between TGIF and Ruby Tuesday, driving an EV, and know one has chargers and one doesn't?

            What if department stores start putting them in?

            While you're at it, to keep the drain down, install solar car shades.

            *Or something along the lines of they install 10 chargers. When they notice that usage is over 75% for more than a couple hou

          • You don't necessarily need more stations.

            You need as many as you need. You need enough to keep people from waiting for someone else to finish. There needs to be a charger available for a person when they pull up. That number is only determined by the number of people that need a recharge on the go, which should be a smaller percentage of overall EV drivers since most plan around the need for road charging.

            Layout is irrelevant, it is simply a function of number of chargers needed and space available.

        • I cannot tell if you are stuck thinking in a traditional gas station paradigm or are making my point for me. You are correct that there needs to be many more places to charge electric cars. But you seem to be mixing home charging with public charging. You should never have to wait in line at home unless you have two electric cars and only one outlet. By the way, it can cost as little as $150 to add an outlet. Of the approximately 600 times I have charged my car I have only plugged into public stations

          • I think you are trying to read something into my words. The focus of the OP was public charging stations and how many there would need to be compared to the old gas pump. I was not stuck in any way of thinking, I was pointing out that for those that need a charge to keep going from a public station, they will not want to wait. There must be a station available. Layout is just a function of the number of chargers and space available.

            I mentioned that most people will be charging at home and at other places

    • At a gas station it doesn't take you long to fill your tank.

      But you have to make a special stop at a gas station. An electric charging station can be installed almost anywhere. My local Wal-Mart and Costco have them in the parking lot. So you can recharge while you shop. They are also available in many employee parking lots, close to the entrance. So you can recharge while you work. And, of course, you can put one in your garage and recharge while you sleep.

      • Re:Not quite comparable (Score:5, Interesting)

        by FatLittleMonkey ( 1341387 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @01:13PM (#49055191)

        Companies can also install them just by hiring an ordinary commercial electrician (or an industrial electrician for the fast-charge options). They don't need specific govt approval or licences, nor conduct EIS studies, nor do major construction. They can add points to light-poles in your open-air carpark, or run them along walls in a parking structure. Much less infrastructure than bowsers.

        You can install an outside (unmetered) 240VAC/20A power-point for maybe $50 parts plus labour. A standard three-phase (400V/30A) box w/- EFTPOS is about $600, plus labour. A DC 30m-fast-charge station w/- EFTPOS is about $3000, plus some back-end costs for the DC. The low cost means a company can add a row of free 240V charging points just for PR, even if they don't get used much; then ramp up to faster charging and paid charging (charged charging?) once they gauge demand or the number of BEVs increases.

        There's vastly less commitment required to get started. And the financial return-per-point can be vastly less for it to be worthwhile.

        • Rather than targeting walgreens, where ppl go in for 10-20 minutes (and they only have level 2), these should be located at malls, zoos, museums, garages, and most of all, restaurants. In these places, most ppl will stay for at least an hour. Level 2s make great sense for the majority of that. Restaurants along highways would ideally put in level 3s so as to charge for going cross country.
          Sadly, American subsidies on AE are being done poorly.

          • these should be located at malls, zoos, museums, garages, and most of all, restaurants.

            Where I live, the mall, zoo, museums, and commercial parking garages already have them. I have not seen them yet at a restaurant.

            Disclaimer: I live in San Jose, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, so I understand that my case is atypical. But things that happen here, often happen 5 years later in the real world.

            • actually, all of the tesla ones are located right by restaurants. Not necessarily, in their lot, but .....

              Personally, I think that Tesla should cut a deal with some of the large truck stop chains. Most of them have 24x7 restaurants and are ideal for putting in Chargers.

    • Re:Not quite comparable (Score:5, Informative)

      by buchner.johannes ( 1139593 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @12:28PM (#49054937) Homepage Journal

      At a gas station it doesn't take you long to fill your tamk. Charging an electric vehicle takes a lot longer so theres less turnover.
      (Perhaps even all day, or at least all 8 hrs of a shift)

      It takes 1 minute, 30 seconds [youtube.com].
      A electric charging "gas station" could just replace the batteries in cars and charge its pool of batteries independent of the cars.

      • Problems.
        1. Very few cars have swapable batteries because they are difficult to impiment.
        2. The card that do have swapable batteries are not standardized. Tesla [cnet.com]
        3. It is more difficult to design a car with a swapable battery as the swapping mechanism is more complex and the battery can not be buried in the frame.
        4. That is not what the article is talking about.
        5. The only company that has tried to go public with this technology had gone bankrupt [wikipedia.org]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) *

        I'm an EV driver (Leaf) and I can tell you that public charging is not going to be that important in the near future, and battery swapping well probably never take off.

        Current EVs do need charging for long trips, but even so most charging is at home or at work and public chargers are just a nice free bonus. In 2016 Nissan is releasing a Leaf with 250 mile range, so charging will be even less important.

        Current rapid charging takes 45 minutes, but usually you don't do a full charge because it's quicker to do

      • The battery idea has some problems. Batteries are not interchangeable - age and quality matters. You might drive up to the station with a shiny new battery, get it replaced - and your new battery is two years old and only has half the effective capacity. Or worse, you might get given a battery which was previously damaged in an accident and is now prone to catch fire, or which a previous owner hacked to disable the under-voltage protection circuit and squeeze a bit more capacity from while ruining the cells

        • The battery idea has some problems. Batteries are not interchangeable - age and quality matters. You might drive up to the station with a shiny new battery, get it replaced - and your new battery is two years old and only has half the effective capacity. Or worse, you might get given a battery which was previously damaged in an accident and is now prone to catch fire, or which a previous owner hacked to disable the under-voltage protection circuit and squeeze a bit more capacity from while ruining the cells, or which was manufactured by the cheapest factory in China with a counterfeir controller chip - all things that expose the station operator to liability. The only way it would work would be to inspect every battery as it came in and before sending it out again, which means every station needs a skilled attendant and frequently needs to buy new batteries. Expensive.

          You own the car but the auto-maker owns the battery and automatically replaces bad batteries free of charge.

          You go up to the charging station swap out the spent for the new, the spent goes to a charging station that runs a diagnostic during charging, if the battery fails the diagnostic the attendant sets it aside, then once a week they call the automaker who sends someone around to pick up the duds and drop off replacements.

          Since owners don't need to buy replacement batteries there's less of a market for co

    • First off, most ppl will charge at home. And it will be done in the middle of the night when electricity is dirt cheap.
      Secondly, with the level 3 chargers, most electric (not hybrids) cars can charge to 80% in 30 minutes.
      Third, for cars like Tesla, they charge for free.

      • most electric (not hybrids) cars can charge to 80% in 30 minutes.

        At the cost of a 10% reduction in effective battery life.

      • Electricity is only cheap at night if you have a smart meter or a second meter for 'power at night'.
        Ordinary house hold meters don't distibguishe between night and day time. You always pay the day price.

        • If you own an electric car and do not go with the smart meter, then you are really not that bright.
          The fact is, that only a few utilities do not offer cheaper prices for running nighttime electricity.
          Nearly all of them WANT you to drive electric cars that you charge at nighttime.

    • It takes me about 15 seconds to plug in my car at home. If I'm using a public station it takes maybe 30 seconds (some time to activate). As long as I'm doing something else useful while it's charging I'm spending less time than I would be staring at the price total on a pump at a gas station.

  • Sharing Economy? (Score:3)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Saturday February 14, 2015 @11:47AM (#49054753) Homepage Journal

    Hearing that many of these points are in homes makes me wonder if anyone is running a social media site/group just for people with EV chargers. You could make your charger open to people with chargers who would make them available to you... Presumably (heh heh) you could add something like this to your home for relatively little money by adding something that would provide an external charging lead with a keypad or iButton contact or NFC or whatever, with a socket inside into which you plugged your charging connector when you wanted to make it available. Plugging into the back of the unit would power it up, at which point it would connect to the network and announce availability. It would require relatively little penetration of an external wall, or routing through conduits to an appropriate mounting location.

    • Yes, on some other planet where electricity is free.
      What you propose is no different than having a gasoline tank in your yard, and letting random people come by and fill up for free. When the tank is empty, you get to pay to fill it up again.

      • Re:Sharing Economy? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Smidge204 ( 605297 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @01:01PM (#49055115) Journal

        Well, the difference is that the cost-per mile electric driving is a fraction of the cost of gasoline.

        A gallon of gasoline will get you ~40 miles in a good car. A gallon of gasoline is also ~36KWHr of energy. 36 KWHr of electric charge will get you over 108 miles in a mediocre electric vehicle.

        A gallon of gasoline right now, in my area, is roughly $2.40. A kilowatt-hour of electricity, including all taxes and surcharges, is roughly $0.20. So fully charging an electric car will cost about $5 while fully refueling a normal car will cost about $25.

        And as others pointed out; it needn't be for free. But at a maximum of $5 per visitor it needn't be cash either. Hell, bring a box of good cookies and I'll let you charge at my place for a few hours...

        And if it's an emergency type situation, maybe a couple bucks to help someone get home isn't that bad a gesture in and of itself.
        =Smidge=

        • Agreed. I get that. But what the OP seemed to be suggesting was turning your house into a refueling station. No mention of 'payment' for fuel, be it liquid or electrons. With a whole lot of handwaving about 'sharing economy', and 'open to people'.

          • Well "Shared economy" implies sharing, not selling or bartering. I know that some people are perfectly happy to form community ties around electric vehicles and share - at no cost - each other's power outlets. It's not the least bit farfetched an idea.
            =Smidge=

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by MrChips ( 29877 )
          Using your numbers, going 40 miles on $2.40 worth of gas is 16.67 miles per $, while going 108 miles on $7.20 worth of electricity is 15 miles per $. So the electric car is more expensive on a cost-per-mile basis.

          • Yes, amazingly if you use numbers that are strongly in favor of gasoline vehicles, gasoline vehicles come out looking pretty good. Go figure.

            To use harder real-world-average numbers, adjust the math for 29MPG, 3.5 miles/KWHr and $0.12/KWHr.
            =Smidge=

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mspohr ( 589790 )

        Most EVs have batteries with a total storage capacity of about 20 to 40 kWh and a recharge rate of about 5 kW. Electricity costs 10 to 20 cents per kWh so a one hour charge costs $0.50 to $1.00. This is enough to get most people back on the road to their destination and it won't break the bank.
        Teslas are different with a battery capacity of 85 kWh and a charge rate at a Supercharger of about 100 kW. Superchargers are "free" (you do have to buy the car) so you could theoretically drive anywhere without payin

        • For comparison, a typical gasoline-powered vehicle has a storage capacity of about 500 kWh and a recharge rate of 15,000 kW. The average driver consumes the gasoline equivalent of 57 kWh per day. Taking into account the fact that gasoline engines are about 25% as efficient as electric motors, each electric car needs about 14 kWh of charge per day, on average. While a gasoline dispenser can refuel as many as 100 cars/day, a charger can only supply 3 cars/day. So, you need at least 30 times as many chargi

      • Yes, on some other planet where electricity is free.

        Is that the planet where you come from? They don't read on that planet, do they?

        What you propose is no different than having a gasoline tank in your yard, and letting random people come by and fill up for free.

        It's different in that read my fucking comment, you ignoranus. Anyway, a sibling to your comment provides links to some services like what I'm talking about, and what you assert that nobody would ever do. You're so useless.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mspohr ( 589790 )

      http://www.plugshare.com/ [plugshare.com] (Google is your friend)
      http://www.chargepoint.com/ [chargepoint.com]
      https://www.blinknetwork.com/ [blinknetwork.com]

    • Hearing that many of these points are in homes makes me wonder if anyone is running a social media site/group just for people with EV chargers. You could make your charger open to people with chargers who would make them available to you... Presumably (heh heh) you could add something like this to your home for relatively little money by adding something that would provide an external charging lead with a keypad or iButton contact or NFC or whatever, with a socket inside into which you plugged your charging connector when you wanted to make it available. Plugging into the back of the unit would power it up, at which point it would connect to the network and announce availability. It would require relatively little penetration of an external wall, or routing through conduits to an appropriate mounting location.

      In seconds, regulators would show up to make things nice and safe for you ...

    • There are several companies (like charge point) that sell charging stations that have billing mechanisms built into them. They work with NFC for payment.

    • You could make your charger open to people with chargers who would make them available to you...

      When Hell Freezes Over.

      It is not a gated community, but I live in a suburban cul-de-sac that is generally regarded as safe and secure. In no small part, of course, because there is no through traffic.

      It is a really, really bad idea to try an end-run around the residential zoning laws here. Your neighbors turn on a dime and come at you with knives and pitchforks at the ready.

  • How do you think all the battle robot bunnies , and ecchi robot girls keep powered up

  • ...there are much less active nuclear power plants.

  • Really? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by DeathSquid ( 937219 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @12:09PM (#49054863)

    And yet I live in Tokyo and I have never seen a charging point there. Can anyone tell me where there is a public point?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by alantus ( 882150 )

      And yet I live in Tokyo and I have never seen a charging point there. Can anyone tell me where there is a public point?

      Every Nissan dealer has at least one charging station.
      You leave the car there while you go inside and enjoy free drinks, snacks, games for your kids, etc.
      Of course, that is as long as you are a Nissan owner.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mspohr ( 589790 )

      http://www.plugshare.com/ [plugshare.com]
      Type Tokyo into the search bar. There are about a bazillion chargers.

    • http://openchargemap.org/site/ [openchargemap.org]
      Simply type it in. You have over 453 in your city.

      • Exactly one charging point in Shinjuku, my city. The most populated city in Japan. You must be joking. Where did you get the number 453 from? What a waste of time.

        • you said tokyo. That has 453. Now, you limit it to 1 little bitty ward, and think scream that it only has 1 in it.
          What a waste indeed.

    • This is by design. They don't want to put them there in case Godzilla returns.

  • Norway (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rarruda ( 464686 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @12:10PM (#49054871)

    Norway has 1602 gas stations ( http://www.np.no/om_bensinstas... [www.np.no] ) and 1617 charging stations with 6221 charting points ( http://www.ladestasjoner.no/ [ladestasjoner.no] ) of which 5384 charting points are public and most are free as in beer.

    While driving to most places in the country is possible with a Tesla due to its large battery pack, with most other electric cars it would still be a significant hassle to drive significant distances (over 3 hours non-stop drive) due to their limited range/battery packs.

    So I guess the question even with infrastructure in place, and with enough incentives in place, is when will most manufacturers realize that range is critical into turning electric cars from a commuters vehicle into a family, general, all purpose car? (Other then Tesla, I don't really see other manufacturers really "getting it").

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Duhfus ( 960817 )
      > Other then Tesla, I don't really see other manufacturers really "getting it" I might be wrong, but I don't think it is the manufacturers' not "getting it", but that the cost to bring a longer range vehicle makes such a vehicle much less desirable currently. Having said that I hope the cost comes down soon enough that guys like me can actually afford a car like Tesla S.

    • when will most manufacturers realize that range is critical into turning electric cars from a commuters vehicle into a family, general, all purpose car?

      All of the manufacturers understand perfectly well exactly how important range is to making an EV a general-purpose vehicle. What no one knows, yet, is how to make an EV with 300-mile range that doesn't cost upwards of $80K. Tesla doesn't have any special knowledge in this regard, but the market for vehicles in that price range is obviously small.

      I should point out, though, that my Nissan LEAF is our primary family car. It's not a general-purpose car -- we have a large SUV that does all of the things the

    • That is why we need to change the subsidy on 'EV's.
      First off, hybrids are NOT EVs. They do not deserve a subsidy since they are going to cost America more money in our electricity.
      Secondly, we should offer up a subsidy of say $5K for cars with less than 100 MPC (epa rated), $10K for cars less than 150 MPC, and 15K for all cars greater than/equal 150 MPC.
      With such a structure, it will get car makers to do the right things.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) *

      Nissan are releasing a 250 mile range Leaf late next year. I'll probably be one of the first customers as my finance on my current Leaf comes to an end then.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      It really doesn't make sense to compare Norway to anything else because our car taxes heavily penalize muscle cars while EV cars are tax free, creating a unique environment where the Tesla is cheap-ish. For example in the US the cheapest Ford Mustang has a MSRP of $23,800 [ford.com] and the Tesla P85D is $98170 after the $7500 tax credit. In Norway the same Ford Mustang costs 739000 NOK = $97336 and the Tesla P85D 768200 NOK = $101182 at current exchange rates and due to additional incentives it's actually cheaper. An

  • Points vs. stations (Score:3)

    by fridaynightsmoke ( 1589903 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @12:18PM (#49054897) Homepage

    I'm assuming a 'charging point' charges one car. A gas station has between 4 and 20 pumps. If it takes 3 minutes to fill a car's tank, that means a gas station can serve between 80 and 400 cars per hour. A charging point can serve between 0.1 and 2 (for a Tesla Supercharger) cars per hour.

    Apples and oranges.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Chas ( 5144 )

      Also, Japan is roughly the size of Montana. And fairly densely populated. Are 70-80 mile commutes to work really that common?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mspohr ( 589790 )

      You are right. It's difficult to compare gas stations and EV charge points since they are used differently.
      In your ICE (Internal combustion engine) car, when you run low on gas you drive to the gas station and fill up. You might do this once or twice a week and you need to count the time it takes to get to the gas station and back to your route as well as the short time to fill up.
      In an EV, you usually just plug the car in at home at night and it's "full" in the morning. Takes about 10 seconds to plug in. A

  • In the old days ... (Score:3)

    by jamesl ( 106902 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @12:51PM (#49055057)

    Open Charge Map, for example, operates an online listing of public charging points worldwide. A mobile app combines the data with GPS technology to guide drivers to the nearest site.

    Decades ago, Mercedes included with every diesel powered car a book that listed every diesel fuel station in the US.

  • Umm, SMALLER! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by holophrastic ( 221104 )

    So, let's understand this. In smaller countries, where no one drives very far at all, and electricity is everywhere, gas is going electric. No shit. Gas requires transport, electricity does not.

    Oh wait, electricity requires continuous unbroken well maintained infrastructure. So given a 2'000 mile broken road, electricity doesn't exist.

    But there's something much more fundamental going on here. This isn't a question of gas or electric. This is a question of portable fuel or infrastructure energy.

    I don't

  • particularly in smaller, more population dense technologically advanced countries like Japan

    Fixed that for you.

  • It's not the sheer number of hypothetically available charging points that matters. It's the accessibility (how many are pubically accessible on the street), the real number (number of publically available points per let's say every 100 miles), and the real availability (on average, how many of those points are available at any given time, taking into consideration that on car can block a charging point for 4-6-8 hours easily thus significantly reducing availability statistics).

    Anyway, unless we're talkin

    • You have no duty or responsibility for your fellow man, only you matter and the rest of the world can go to hell.

      Even further, you are not your brother's keeper even if Jesus said so!

      Second hand smoke bother you? well fuck off and die! I'm not giving up my cigarettes you communist!

      Humans did ok for most their existence without cars... but now you have one we can't possibly ADAPT to new circumstances... because you don't want to be inconvenienced.

      Makes me wonder if WW2 could be won today with so many selfish

    • Who would want to drive 1,000 miles (13 hours???) and only stop for 30 minutes total? You could actually do that with a plug in hybrid if you want and only have to stop once for gas, but that's still kind of crazy.

  • Rental apartments and condos will have fits over charging stations. Usually space is at a premium and installing charging points for every vehicle is super expensive. But on top of that you can bet that residents will try to get a sort of Uber type of renting out their charging space and it will start when a guest needs a charge and the arguments begin over why can't i use my charger space for my guests. Condos will also resist new things like crazy and that is particularly true when some owners

  • It's not just the "technologically advanced" bit (Score:3)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday February 14, 2015 @03:05PM (#49055893)

    When there's a gas station every other mile and you have to struggle to find a charging station, it's difficult to make a case for convenience and reliability. But this is changing, particularly in smaller, more technologically advanced countries like Japan.

    Japan doesn't have significant oil reserves from which it can produce its own gasoline. Whether it learned that lesson from World War II, or whether it sees the continuing political instability in the Middle East as a motivator - Japan is probably doing this because it's politically expedient rather than because it's cool tech.

  • Comparing number of gas stations to "charging points" (including in people's homes) is kind of like counting everyone with a fuel can for their motorcycle,weed whacker, or chainsaw as having a gas station.

  • ok, so you've got 40,000 charging stations. Big deal. you've got 123 million people. If even half of them drive, you don't have nearly enough charging stations. It takes 5 minutes to fill up a car. It takes anywhere from 1 to 8 hours to fill up an EV. Color me unimpressed.
    You'd need between 1537.5 and 12,300 hours to charge them all with 40,000 stations. Compare that to the 128.125 hours you'd need to fill every car.

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