Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru vehicles, said Friday they will jointly develop an environmentally friendly electric vehicle based on Fuji Heavy's Subaru R1e prototype EV.
Tokyo Electric intends to use the planned vehicle for marketing, bill collection and other work.
The R1e runs for up to 120 km per charge.
As vehicles that Tokyo Electric workers use cover a distance of less than 80 km per day on average, the two companies concluded they can develop a practical EV while conducting demonstration experiments with the R1e.
Under the agreement, Fuji Heavy will supply 10 experimental EVs to Tokyo Electric by next March, while the power supplier will develop a high-speed charger able to charge a battery to 80 percent capacity in 15 minutes.
Tokyo Electric will consider whether it should replace some 3,000 small business-use vehicles with the EVs in fiscal 2007 or later.