The all-electric automotive future is fast approaching, and Japan is leading the way.
The Japan Times reports that the country now has more electric vehicle charging stations than gas stations. This fact comes from Nissan, which said that there are now 40,000 fast-charging stations around the island nation. This outpaces the country’s 34,000 gas stations by a good margin. It should be noted that this figure includes charging stations both on the streets and in homes.
This is great news for Nissan, as the increased availability promises to make its all-electric Leaf even more attractive to Japanese buyers. The Leaf can travel 107 miles on a single charge, and with so many charge points, range anxiety should diminish.
Granted, this number is greatly skewed by including charging stations inside private garages. But that may soon change as well. PlugShare is a website that maps out charging stations across the world, including private ones available for public use. Think of it as Airbnb for car charging. If this concept takes off, then car charging will gain the benefits of the sharing economy.
As for actual charging stations, there are a 6,469 CHAdeMO DC quick chargers in Japan. That number may look small, but compared to Europe’s 3,028 or the 1,686 in the U.S., Japan still far outpaces the rest of the world. If things continue to go this way, then Japan will be on track to have 2 million charging stations by 2020, with 50 percent of new car sales being green.
Japan has been aggressive with tax breaks and subsidies for buyers willing to make a more environmentally conscious purchase. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe boasted that as much as 3 million yen ($27,937) could be offered as subsidies to buyers. With incentives this generous, it’s easy to see why Japan has done so well in the EV space.
With Tesla aggressively pushing its all-electric vehicles in the U.S., incentives could also expand for American buyers.
H/T Transport Evolved | Photo via Portland General Electric/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.