The industry ministry has doubled its target for the installation of electric vehicle charging outlets to 300,000 by 2030 in order to expand the use of EVs.
The ministry aims to accelerate the installation of EV chargers so that Japan can achieve its target of increasing the proportion of electrified vehicles, including hybrids, to 100% of its new car sales by 2035.
In new guidelines released on Wednesday, the ministry outlined a plan to support the establishment of standard EV chargers mainly at condominiums and commercial facilities, and fast chargers at expressway rest areas.
The guidelines call for increasing the number of standard charger outlets nationwide to 270,000 and fast charger outlets to 30,000 by 2030, 10 times the current levels.
The ministry also seeks an improvement in the performance of EV chargers to reduce charging time, including by doubling the average output of fast chargers to 80 kilowatts and installing only powerful chargers with an output of at least 90 kilowatts at expressway rest areas in principle.
The ministry also said that charging fee programs should be reviewed for a shift from the currently dominant system based on charging time to one based on the amount of electricity charged.