Plug-in electric vehicles in Japan

The fleet of light-duty plug-in electric vehicles in Japan totaled just over 300,000 highway legal plug-in electric vehicles in circulation at the end of 2020, consisting of 156,381 all-electric passenger cars, 136,700 plug-in hybrids, and 9,904 light-commercial vehicles. Select Historical: "EV stock" and "EV stock share" + Transport mode: "Cars" and "Vans" + Region" "Japan"

The rate of growth of the Japanese plug-in segment slowed from 2013, with annual sales falling behind Europe, the U.S. and China since then. The segment market share fell from 0.68% in 2014 to 0.59% in 2016. Then the market share increased to 1.2% in 2017, and fell to 1.1% in 2018. Norway surpassed Japan as the country with the third largest plug-in car stock in use in 2019. ''See Statistical annex, pp. 247–252 (See Tables A.1 and A.12).'' The market share fell further to 0.7% in 2019 and 0.6% in 2020. The decline in plug-in car sales reflects the Japanese government and the major domestic carmakers decision to adopt and promote hydrogen fuel cell vehicles instead of plug-in electric vehicles, although the first commercially produced hydrogen fuel cell automobiles began in 2015.

, the Nissan Leaf all-electric car ranked as the all-time top selling plug-in electric vehicle in the country, with over 100,000 units sold since December 2010. Ranking second is the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV with 34,830 units delivered through August 2016, followed by the Toyota Prius PHV with 22,100 units sold through April 2016.

, Japan was the country with the highest ratio of quick charging points to electric vehicles (EVSE/EV), with a ratio of 0.030 . The country's charging infrastructure included 1,381 public quick-charge stations and around 300 non-domestic slow charger points. ''See pp. 4, 6-8, and 11-12''. The Japanese government has set up a target to deploy 2 million slow chargers and 5,000 fast charging points by 2020.

Introduction and sales

Cumulative light-duty plug-in electric vehicle sales in Japan totaled about 151,250 units between July 2009 and December 2016, consisting of 86,390 all-electric cars (57.1%) and 64,860 plug-in hybrids (42.9%). ''See pp. 5–7, 12–22, 27–28, and Statistical annex, pp. 49–51''. At the end of 2016, Japan ranked as the world's third largest light-duty plug-in vehicle country market after the China and the U.S. ''An estimated 2,032,000 highway-legal plug-in passenger cars and vans have been sold worldwide at the end of 2016. The top selling markets are China (645,708 new energy cars, including imports), Europe (638,000 plug-in cars and vans), and the United States (570,187 plug-in cars). The top European country markets are Norway (135,276), the Netherlands (113,636), France (108,065), and the UK (91,000). Total Chinese sales of domestically produced new energy vehicles, including buses and truck, totaled 951,447 vehicles. China was the top selling plug-in car market in 2016, and also has the world's largest stock of plug-in electric cars.'' , total Japanese sales of light-duty plug-in vehicles represent 8.1% of the global stock of plug-ins. The plug-in segment sales climbed from 1,080 units in 2009 to 12,630 in 2011, and reached 24,440 in 2012. Only all-electric cars were sold in the country between 2009 and 2011. Global sales of pure electric cars in 2012 were led by Japan with a 28% market share of the segment sales. Japan ranked second after the U.S. in terms of its share of plug-in hybrid sales in 2012, with 12% of global sales.

About 30,600 highway-capable plug-in electric vehicles were sold in the country in 2013, ''A total of 10,877 units were sold in Japan during the first nine months of 2014.'' representing a 0.58% market share of the 5.3 million new automobiles and kei cars sold in 2013. In 2014 the segment sales remained flat with over 30,000 plug-in electric vehicles were sold, with the plug-in market share achieving a record market share of 1.06% of new car sales (kei cars not included). Accounting for kei cars, the plug-in segment market share falls to 0.7%. During 2014, cumulative plug-in sales in the Japanese market passed the 100,000 unit mark. However, as a result of the slow growth from 2013, Japan was surpassed in 2014 by China, with over 50,000 units sold, as the second largest world market that year. Sales totaled 24,660 units in 2015 and 24,851 units in 2016. The segment market share declined from 0.68% in 2014 to 0.59% in 2016. As a result of the slow down in sales that occurred after 2013, annual sales fell behind Europe, the U.S. and China during 2014 and 2015.

The first electric car available in the Japanese market was the Mitsubishi i MiEV, launched for fleet customers in Japan in late July 2009. Retail sales to the public began in April 2010. Cumulative sales since July 2009 reached 11,144 i-MiEVs through April 2016. Sales of the Mitsubishi Minicab MiEV electric van began in December 2011, and a total of 6,172 units have been sold through April 2016. ''Cumulative Outlander P-HEV sales in Japan totaled 9,608 units through December 2013.'' A truck version of the Minicab MiEV was launched in January 2013, with sales of 927 units through April 2016. Mitsubishi also launched in January 2013 a plug-in hybrid version of the Outlander, called the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV, becoming the first SUV plug-in hybrid in the world's market. The SUV has an all-electric range of . The Outlander P-HEV sold 9,608 units during 2013, ranking as the second top selling plug-in electric car in Japan after the Nissan Leaf. ''Excludes sales of Nissan NMC units (45), which is a low-speed neighborhood vehicle.'' , Mitsubishi Motors

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