For densely-populated countries such as Japan, carbon-emissions are a big deal. That's why as of late, the local government and automakers such as Honda have been banding together to produce more plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles to cut down on CO2. Their eventual goal is to have 20 percent of the cars on the road be EVs, but first they need the infrastructure.
To accomplish this, Honda and three other Japanese manufacturers have pooled their money--about 100 billion yen or 1 billion dollars--to bolster the existing charging infrastructure. At the end of the initiative, electric charging stations will be more widespread, and in more convenient locations.
Looking at the numbers, it looks to be a pretty big job. Japan currently has 1,700 quick charging stations and 3,000 normal chargers. This project, however, looks to raise those numbers to 5,700 quick and 11,000 normal chargers respectively. The fast fill options will be placed in public areas, such as shopping malls and outside of restaurants, with the full charge ones going into gas stations and road stops.
Yet Japan isn't the only country that has stringent laws about emissions. The legislation in the United States that governs fuel efficiency is getting more tight by the year, and it may not be long before we see a similar kind of project stateside.
Want to learn more about Honda green initiatives in our Franklin, TN locale? Stop by Darrell Waltrip Honda to continue the conversation. We also can overview the fuel friendly technology on some of our new Honda models, such as Earth Dreams. Stop by today.
