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user 340

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n3ckf said:
I'm in Tokyo now, i wonder if there are any Rav4EVs here. I havent seen that many electric cars here actually. a couple of Leafs and a Tesla (which was in a charging station at the time).

I do see lots of solar panels, esp outside Tokyo (ground mounts or on top of industrial buidlings). I have yet to see a panel on a home.

Thanks for the interesting report. I would have thought that solar PV energy production would have been strongly adopted in Japan after the Fukushima disaster; their grid really suffered when they took their nuke plants offline.
 
tgreene said:
I would have thought that solar PV energy production would have been strongly adopted in Japan after the Fukushima disaster; their grid really suffered when they took their nuke plants offline.

I've read previous reports that Japan's nuclear industry has resisted adoption of solar panels to avoid the competition. According to this report solar adoption increased significantly after Fukushima but that this might be coming to an end:

http://www.cfr.org/japan/japans-unnecessary-power-struggle-nuclear-vs-solar/p36467
 
n3ckf said:
I verified the West Valley mall charger is 115 amps.
I'm in Tokyo now, i wonder if there are any Rav4EVs here. I havent seen that many electric cars here actually. a couple of Leafs and a Tesla (which was in a charging station at the time).

I do see lots of solar panels, esp outside Tokyo (ground mounts or on top of industrial buidlings). I have yet to see a panel on a home.

In my experience you have to leave Tokyo to see all those things. In respect to cars/EVs, Tokyo is a very train-oriented city and space for parking is at a premium. Only 12% of Tokyo residents actually commute by private car. Source.

Aside from fleet vehicles, I haven't seen too many EVs in Tokyo - but once you get out into the countryside and some of the other cities you will see many more. I was just in Sapporo a few weeks ago and saw a number of LEAFs, i-MiEVs, and Outlander PHEVs which was probably the most popular due to the more rugged nature of Hokkaido. I've seen quite a few EVs in towns like Matsumoto and cities like Hiroshima. In Hiroshima, I've even seen a few of Mazda's Demio EVs roaming around (Mazda is based in Hiroshima).
 
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