NHK

Firms help Japanese municipalities make EV transition

Japanese businesses are lending a hand to municipalities in the transition to electric vehicles, launching new services that help local governments replace their official-use cars with EVs.

A group company of major trading firm Mitsubishi Corporation is leasing out nearly 200 EVs to Tokyo's Setagaya Ward starting this month. This will help lower the cost of making the switch to eco-friendly transportation.

The company plans to calculate how much CO2 reduction the lease achieves.
Setagaya plans to replace half of its cars with EVs by fiscal 2027.

A group firm of Sumitomo Corporation has rolled out a similar offering. It started leasing second-hand EVs to local governments on a trial basis in May.

Tokyo Gas also launched a service in May to install EV charging facilities for municipalities and businesses.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230712_27/