We all know that soda and other beverages, and even candy can be sourced from a street-side vending machine. But in Japan they even have vending machines offering hot beverages like tea and coffee in the winter. And now, guess what Japanese vending machines will be doing next? They’ll be helping the Japanese motorists to charge their electric cars as well!
Recently, there was an announcement by a consortium of companies from Japan that they had decided on installing a number of electric vehicle chargers at beverage vending machines across the country. The consortium comprises telecom companies, electronics makers, and a vending machine manufacturer – Forking Co. – an organization that owns around half of the vending machines, over one million in all, across Japan.
The reasons behind this interesting move include the setting up of additional recharging infrastructure in the country which was sadly lacking till now, and to bring about higher sales of electric cars. According to Forking, eventually, the chargers will be incorporated into the vending machines themselves.
The innovative proposal of providing electric vehicle chargers at the ubiquitous street corner vending machines could also provide the solution to another problem. It could help allay the fears and concerns in Japan about electric cars not being able to go a long enough distance on a charge. To help relieve the apprehensions of consumers, Japan’s electric car manufacturers, Toyota and Nissan, had announced last year that they would be attempting to standardize the recharging stations across Japan, and would eventually create an international standard. Electric cars usually have to depend on expensive batteries, but yet provide consumers with a disappointingly short driving range. This is one of the main drawbacks of electric cars and the reason why they are still not very popular even though they are environment friendly vehicles.
Early this year, Mazda announced it was going to take a leap into the electric vehicle arena launching its own battery-operated vehicle in Japan by 2012. Ford has announced its own lineup of electric car models in the US. President Obama has asked his countrymen to make the U.S. the first nation in the world to have one million electric vehicles on the road by the year 2015. Till now however sales remain low. As per Engadget’s announcement, only 67 Nissan Leafs and 281 Chevy Volts were sold in February in America, thus indicating brighter chances for Japan to lead the electric vehicle race.
During the first year of the project, scheduled to commence soon, the consortium plans to install 10,000 electric chargers at various vending machine sites across Japan. So now electric vehicle owners in the country can look forward to better recharging facilities.
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