Tesla announced its 50th supercharger in Japan, and further focuses on expansion in Asia. Tesla has worked towards increasing its presence in Japan this year. Tesla Model Y has been making waves in numerous Asian markets. There is also a virtual power plant located in the country. Various people have been sharing pictures of Tesla Model S as well.
Japan poses a unique challenge to Tesla’s charging infrastructure. The land is often sold at a premium due to space constraints. At the same time, Tesla must battle smaller and cheaper EV offerings that are usually only charged at home. Looking at the map of Supercharger locations supplied by Tesla Japan, you can understand how the company has approached this problem. Foremost, the vast majority of the now 50 superchargers (red dots) are located in and around cities such as Tokyo and Osaka; the rest of the country is covered by many smaller destination chargers.
While this would run counter to Tesla’s American charging locations that specifically target areas of significant amounts of travel, due to the relatively smaller size of the Japanese country, the company can get away with focusing on city centers while smaller and cheaper destination chargers service the small number of rural areas.
Expansion in Asia
Along with placing their 50th Supercharger location in Japan, Tesla is now running a giveaway on their Japanese website for a free rental of a Tesla Model 3 for three days and free supercharging. Japan is just one of the numerous Asian countries that will likely see an explosion of electric vehicles within the coming years, mirroring the market situation of China. The population density of the county, as well as the often high cost of gas, could be significant motivators for consumers to move to electric options in the coming years.
With its high per-capita income and enthusiasm for high-end European cars such as Mercedes-Benz, Japan initially looked like a natural fit to Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who predicted back in 2010 the Asian nation would be Tesla’s second-biggest market after the U.S.
There now seems to be a pivot amid international pressure. Toyota, Nissan and Honda Motor Co. have all rolled out new EV strategies as foreign giants from General Motors Co. to Volkswagen AG pledge to abandon combustion engine cars altogether in the not too distant future. The Japanese government, pledging to be carbon neutral by 2050, also appears to have shifted from its earlier focus of defending its home-grown auto industry. It now aims to almost halve emissions by 2030 from 2013 levels, and is looking to ban sales of gas-fueled cars by the mid-2030s.
