Tokyo to get 200 quick-charge EV stations with plans for more

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the largest energy firm in Japan, plans to begin installing quick-charge stations for electric vehicles. The initial roll-out calls for some 200 stations to be up and running by March of 2010. TEPCO doesn't plan to stop there, with 1,000 more stations planned within three years. This planned project coincides nicely with the expected launch of the Mitsubishi iMiev, which TEPCO has been extensively testing these last few years, and EVs from Subaru and Nissan as well. These stations will use technology already developed by the energy company which allows an EV to travel 40 kilometers on a five-minute charge and 60 kilometers on a 10-minute charge. Of course, the total available battery capacity and the ability to accept that much power is dependent on the vehicle's on-bard power pack. Each station is said to cost upwards of 4 million yen (that's about $36,570).
[Source: Nikkei via Forbes]