Japanese Correspondence School Promotes EV Usage
An odd collection of 35 companies and organizations, amongst them the correspondence school Benesse, and the convenience store chain Lawsons, established an association yesterday in Japan to promote electric vehicles. It’s called “APEV,” as in “Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles.” (Apparently, beyond Japan.) There is only one problem …
“Major automakers are not on the list of members,” complains The Nikkei [sub], but APEV says the group is ready to sign them up.
According to the Nikkei, “the group will aim to standardize batteries and chargers.” Trouble is, there already is a consortium with that aim, CHAdeMO. Toyota, Nissan, Tokyo Electric Power Co. and 155 others are members. CHAdeMO wants to set EV standards on an United Nations level.
Head of APEV is Benesse Chairman Soichiro Fukutake. He wants to sign up 500 members in the next two years. Lawson, one of the founding members, currently has charging stations for electric cars at five stores and wants to “introduce charging stations at all stores within three to five years,” said Lawson President Takeshi Niinami.
APEV also “ hopes to play a part in building the related infrastructure, with an eye on providing fundraising support to small and midsize firms entering this field,” says the Nikkei. If they focus on this, and leave the standardization of plugs, batteries and chargers to the big boys, then maybe the association has merit. Anyway, Lawson makes sense. But a correspondence school?
Frightening thought: Will charging your EV take so much time that you can get your PhD while you wait?
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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"Will charging your EV take so much time that you can get your PhD while you wait?" No just enough time to write your dissertation. I hope for standardization on electric vehicle procalls at least within major industriallized countries if not the world. But I believe it will be a messy process.
Who is going to pay for the electricity to charge all of these EV's? Will there be little meters on charging stations with card readers on them to debit your bank card? Who will you buy the electricity from? At what cost? I have yet to hear anyone address this aspect of the charging conundrum.