Oil company Eneos buys in to NEC’s charging network
Japan’s largest oil company Eneos (formerly Nippon Oil), is hooking on to the charging infrastructure business. They just acquired 4,600 AC chargers from electronics company NEC to operate at supermarkets, shopping malls and other facilities in Japan.
Eneos plans to take over the remaining 1,500 of the 6,100 chargers operated by NEC in the next step to expand the charging network. The petroleum company plans to install more than 1,000 fast chargers by fiscal 2025 and 10,000 by fiscal 2030.
However, the majority of NEC’s equipment is still AC. However, Eneos bought 30 quick chargers and said it would expand the charging network while considering future demands. The expansion will primarily include Eneos-branded service stations, giving the oil giant a green wash and additional source of income in a move many of the petrochemical corporations are currently undertaking. So far, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi, Eneos operates only 17 fast chargers.
In May, Eneos President Takeshi Saito had already hinted at such a move. “Even if the types of energy change, we will continue our business related to ‘movement,'” he said.
The company also partners with Toyota in the hydrogen sector as reported.
The government in Toyko aims to increase the number of fast chargers by about four times to 30,000 and the number of standard chargers by almost six times to 120,000 by 2030.
Corresponding subsidies have led to the curious situation that there are too many and too dated AC chargers in Japan – companies had scrambled to get government funding, also with the release of the then-new Nissan Leaf EV.
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