EVsmart provides Electric Vehicle news and content mostly in Japanese, but select content are also available in English.
Tesla Motors Japan LLC announced that Megapack will be introduced to an energy storage facility in Hokkaido, Japan. The announcement on 19th of August 2021 claimed the facility has an output of 1523.8kW (capacity 6052.2kWh) and is scheduled to start operations in summer 2022.
The Porsche Taycan’s appearance at the JEVRA (Japan Electric Vehicle Race Association) series on 8th August was eagerly anticipated. However, its suspicious absence from the later stages of the series highlighted issues with its restricted power mode, which could not be resolved by its owners “GULF RACING Taycan”.
Kyoto-based Nidec Corporation is a major supplier of electric motors to various industries, including a 80% global market share in hard disk drive (HDD) motors. In a recent announcement in April this year, they revealed an ambitious plan to vastly increase their supply capacity to the auto industry. In the article, we look at how their business plan sheds light on the predicted growth of EVs.
Japan’s first small commercial EV from a start up company was registered by its manufacturer HW ELECTRO. I joined their CEO, Hsiao Weicheng, at the registration office to learn about the car and find out if registration went smoothly.
On April 5th, 2021, eMP (e-Mobility Power) announced that it had acquired 15 billion yen (137 million USD) through third-party allocation. The companies invested in this new joint venture include Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi.
The price of a Tesla Model 3 has been significantly reduced, with both the Standard Range Plus (SR+) and Long Range (LR) models under 5 million yen ($47009) for the first time.
The EV ARIYA, Nissan’s new crossover Electric vehicle, was announced on the 15th of July. Besides a base price of 5 million yen ($47,000), there are few details available to the public, and deliveries will not start until the middle of 2021. Until then, several exciting new EVs from Nissan’s competitors (Honda e, DS 3 Crossback E-tense, Lexus UX-300e, Mazda MX-30) will be released. Is it worth waiting for the ARIYA?
A ‘Well To Wheel’ (WtW) analysis allows us to compare the environmental impact of different vehicles. In short, it considers the total energy cost of a car, from digging oil in a well, to the manufacture of the vehicle, to the vehicle being driven until it is scrapped. In this article, I will examine a WtW argument put forward by automotive giant Mazda, regarding whether EVs are indeed better for the environment.
At the Tokyo Motor Show in 2017, Toyota announced that they would commericalize all-solid-state battery technology for EVs by early 2020s. Since then, all-solid-state batteries have been considered a crucial component in the evolution of the EV industry. However, can we rely upon this technology as much as Toyota claims? To answer this question, I interviewed Mr. Toru Amazutsumi, a specialist in the field of battery research.
by Tomomi Hakomori
The devastation caused by typhoon Faxai in Chiba last month revealed Japan’s vulnerability in the midst of a changing climate. Whilst national and local governments struggled to provide sufficient aid, some people in the region survived the disaster with help from their BEVs and V2H systems. The author met with a Chiba resident to discuss his family’s story.
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