Audi builds first charging hub outside of Europe in Tokyo in EV push

Audi AG has set up its first electric vehicle charging hub outside of Europe in central Tokyo to spur use of all-electric cars in a country slow to embrace the technology.

The facility, the seventh by the automaker, opened in late April next to its dealership in Kioicho, a district close to many offices, commercial facilities and government buildings, offering four charging points with 150-kilowatt capabilities, the maker of the Q4 e-tron sport utility vehicle said.

The automaker already has six charging hubs, located in the German cities of Nuremberg, Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt, as well as in Salzburg, Austria, and Zurich, Switzerland.

The Japan unit of the automaker said it plans to set up another one in Tokyo’s Shiba Koen district near Tokyo Tower soon.

“It’s hard for many people to imagine a life with an EV without charging equipment close to home,” Audi Japan President Matthias Schepers said in a recent interview in Japanese, adding the charging hub helps people experience such a life first-hand.

Quick charging at the city center is the key to prompting more people to convert to EVs, as many potential buyers, most of whom are affluent city dwellers, balk at purchasing the vehicles due to a lack of fast charging points in urban areas and at their condos, he said.

Matthias Schepers, president of the Japanese unit of Audi AG, charges an electric car at the company’s first electric vehicle charging hub outside of Europe in Tokyo on April 25, 2024. (Kyodo)

The hub is not only open to the car brands belonging to the Premium Charging Alliance, which consists of Volkswagen and its two group firms Audi and Porsche, but also to models outside of the alliance, although Tesla cars cannot use the facility due to the difference in charging method, the company said.

All-electric cars accounted for only 2 percent of the overall new car sales in Japan in 2023, according to industry data, as Japanese automakers, staunch proponents of gasoline-electric hybrid cars, have been reluctant to adopt EVs until recently.

Foreign brands are spearheading a shift to EVs in the Japanese market, with the ratio of all-electric cars among sales of imported cars reaching a record 9.2 percent in 2023, lifted by the popularity of such brands as Tesla and China’s BYD, another data said.

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