Toyota and three other Japanese automakers together with a power company have set up a group to promote electric vehicles by standardizing recharging machines and marketing the technology abroad.
Representatives of Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co, Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Fuji Heavy Industries and Tokyo Electric Power Co gathered at a Tokyo hotel yesterday to announce the association, which includes about 160 businesses, some of them foreign, and government organizations.
The officials said the time may have arrived for electric vehicles to really take off not only in Japan but also around the world as concerns grow about emissions and dependence on oil. But the main hurdles that need to be overcome are better battery technology, costs and having recharging stations in convenient locations.
“Automakers are competing in many aspects, but the entire industry needs to come together and offer convenience for our customers,” Nissan chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga said.
Nissan is planning to start selling in limited numbers an electric vehicle called Leaf later this year, and Mitsubishi and Fuji Heavy already have electric vehicles on the market. Toyota has begun offering for rental a plug-in version of its gas-electric hybrid vehicles.
However, electric vehicles still remain largely experimental. The main users now are government-related groups with only a niche market among regular consumers.
The Japanese government has made reducing greenhouse gases a pillar of its policy, and encouraging electric vehicle use is seen as a key way that can be achieved.
“Please make this an all Japan effort,” Teruhiko Mashiko, the economy minister, told the crowd.
The group is still working out the details of its recharging platform. Standardization would require all makers to agree on the voltage, outlet and other aspects of the technology while also ensuring relatively speedy recharging.
Although some participants expressed hopes the standard would spread internationally, Toyota executive Koei Saga said that was “close to impossible” because of different needs and uses overseas.
“It is key that recharging infrastructure becomes standard,” Saga told reporters. “But look at how electrical outlets are all different, even just in Europe.”
Among the other businesses in the group are Pacific Gas and Electric Co, French carmaker PSA, Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp and KDDI Corp, a major Japan telecommunications company.
Conspicuously absent among the top members is Honda Motor Co, whose participation was limited to its research unit. Honda has not been as aggressive on electric vehicles as Nissan or Mitsubishi, focusing instead on fuel cell vehicles, which it already leases in small numbers, as a clean technology.
The association is called “CHAdeMo,” which comes from the words “charge” and “move,” and sounds like Japanese for “Care for some tea?”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
RSS