Convenience store chain Lawson Inc. has started installing equipment to charge electric vehicles at some of its stores to be used for its own electric cars as well as its customers.
Lawson plans to introduce 40 of Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s i-MiEV electric vehicles in fiscal 2009 through next March for use in going around franchise stores. It plans to install chargers at 12 stores each in the Kanto and Kansai regions and one in Nagoya.
Lawson installed chargers Monday at five shops in Tokyo and two in Osaka Prefecture.
Installing the charge equipment costs hundreds of thousands of yen per shop, but customers will be able to use them for free, Lawson said.