Aeon planning battery rechargers for electric cars at shopping malls

Supermarket chain Aeon Co. is talking with electric car makers about setting up battery chargers for the vehicles at its malls, auto industry sources said Saturday.

Aeon has been negotiating with such automakers as Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and is likely to set up the first charger at Laketown mall in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, they said.

Laketown mall is under construction and will open this fall.

Mitsubishi plans to launch a new electric car, the i MiEV, in September 2009. Fuji Heavy is preparing to launch its own entry, the R1e, next year as well.

Aeon and the automakers will consider setting up additional chargers across Japan after gauging consumer response to the one at Koshigaya, the sources added.

Electric cars are gaining momentum amid skyrocketing gasoline prices and growing awareness of the need to protect the environment. But given their limited range — which tops out at a maximum of about 200 km per charge — a nationwide charger network is necessary for electric vehicles to proliferate.

Electric car batteries can be recharged using household power outlets, but that usually takes anywhere between seven and 14 hours, using a Mitsubishi Motor car as an example.

The charger Aeon wants to install is capable of charging a car less than an hour, which would allow drivers to recharge while shopping, the sources said.

Aeon and the automakers are working on details, including ways of sharing the cost of installing the charger, they added.