4 Japanese companies agree to provide free use of EVs and energy supply devices to government of Kyoto Prefecture in disasters

15 January 2013

Kyoto Prefecture and four Japanese companies entered into a partnership last September under which the prefectural government can call on the companies to provide free use of their electric vehicles (EVs) and power feeding devices for emergency response and disaster relief operations in times of natural disaster or large-scale power outage. The partner companies are Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Kyoto-Mitsubishi Group, Nichicon Corp., a manufacturer of electronic components, and GS Yuasa Corp., a manufacturer of batteries and power supply systems.

The EVs to be provided are a total of 25 units of Mitsubishi i-MiEV and MINICAB MiEV. Each of these units comes with Nichicon’s power feeding device, the MiEV Power Box, which produces 100 VAC of up to 1,500 watts from the battery of the i-MiEV or MINICAB MiEV. When charged fully, the i-MiEV can provide electricity equivalent to the daily consumption of an average Japanese household.

Upon request, the companies will deliver their EVs and power feeding devices to designated sites and lend them for free to the prefectural or municipal governments. This agreement, which aims to utilize EVs as a mobile emergency power source during disasters, is the first of its kind in Japan.

EVs are expected to work as both a means of transportation and as a mobile backup power system in times of disaster. Moreover, they can be flexibly used according to the situation, for example, by sending them individually to different shelters or by intensively placing them at an emergency response center in an affected area. EVs would play an active role in initial response activities during emergencies.