Japan's New Energy Electric Vehicle Development Process

A Brief Overview of the Development of New Energy Electric Vehicles in Japan

Japan has played an important role in the global automotive industry since it began manufacturing its first automobile in the early 20th century. As the world's leading automotive powerhouse, the Japanese automotive industry has been striving to innovate and realize mass production, especially plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles. Japan's first new energy vehicle was the Yamaha Hybrid made in 1904, based on its R&D philosophy of placing a high priority on energy-saving and environmentally friendly vehicles. As a result, electric vehicles once became the mainstream in Japan.

In promoting new energy vehicles, Japan has adopted a series of subsidy measures. Japan's Next Generation Vehicle Promotion Center (NGVPC) adjusts its subsidy policy, car models and budget every year according to the market situation, the most important of which is the CEV subsidy (Clean Energy Vehicle Subsidy) introduced in 1998.

Since the mid-1960s, Japan has developed a series of industrial programs to guide the development and promotion of electric vehicles in the country. After the commercialization of representative hybrid models and technology iteration, Japan in the 21st century began to re-examine the new energy vehicle strategy, and successively introduced a number of industrial strategic plans to build a comprehensive promotion policy system. New energy vehicles and applications.

On the supply side, Japan has formulated a series of new energy automobile industry strategic planning, guiding enterprise research and development, innovation and marketing. In May 2007, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released the Next Generation Vehicle and Fuel Program. In May 2009, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment released the "next generation of automobile popularization strategy" No.. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry officially released the Next Generation Vehicle Strategy 2010 in April 2010 on the basis of the previous strategic plan for new energy vehicles, which set out the master plan, batteries, rare metals, infrastructure, systems and international standards. The actionable action plan covers all aspects of the new energy vehicle industry ecosystem and provides macro guidance for the development of Japan's new energy vehicle industry. The strategy focuses on the development of power batteries, the core technology of new energy vehicles, and is supported through budgetary arrangements.

According to the strategy, by 2020, the proportion of new car sales of next-generation vehicles will be increased to 20%~50%.

In November 2014, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan released the "Automotive Industry Strategy 2014", which has not adjusted the development goal of next-generation vehicles, but refined the promotion measures regarding fuel cell vehicles and their infrastructures in terms of hydrogen refueling stations, and made internationalization of new energy vehicles a priority for the internationalization of Japan's automotive industry. vehicle internationalization as the focus of the internationalization of Japan's automotive industry.

In March 2016, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released the Pure Electric Vehicle and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle Roadmap, which determined the strategic objectives and implementation plan for the development of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2020, and set the cumulative sales volume to achieve the goal of 2020 car ownership reached one million units. The charging infrastructure development target is clear. The roadmap focuses on advanced batteries and materials in terms of technology R&D strategies, and provides financial support for the R&D of lithium-ion power batteries and new types of batteries, which are the core technology of electric vehicles. In March 2016, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) released the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Strategic Roadmap (Revised) No. 1, which quantifies the goals for the development of fuel cell vehicles and related infrastructure development. It proposes that the number of fuel cell vehicles to be promoted in 2030 should reach 800,000, and the number of hydrogen refueling stations in 2025 should reach 320. These two roadmaps clearly describe the development goals and realization path of Japan's next-generation vehicles, as well as the direction of the future development of the new energy automobile industry.