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The story
Kobe International University economics professor Tomohiko Nakamura pointed out in a Yahoo! News expert column that gas station closures are accelerating, leading to a growing number of areas with “no gas station nearby.” The 5ch thread responding to this saw some users lamenting Japan’s slow shift to EVs, while others argued that the real driver of the decline is actually improved fuel efficiency in hybrid vehicles. Posters also discussed the difficulty of installing charging equipment in apartment buildings and the reality of relying on suburban gas stations like Costco, splitting opinion between those pushing for a full switch to EVs and those urging caution given rural realities.
Tomohiko Nakamura
Professor, Faculty of Economics, Kobe International University
Mon, Sep 14, 8:31 AM
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The economy and rural Japan are done for lol
They're dumping trillions of yen into gasoline subsidies
EVs really are the winning choice
Apparently that's how it is in Norway
Apparently newly built high-rise condos come with chargers installed
Probably designed that way so they can sell to Chinese buyers
Could even be a joint public-private venture with private gas companies or oil wholesalers
This isn't the Showa era anymore…
That'd be impressive if every single parking space has one
GT-Rs, AMG Mercedes, BMWs, you name it
Remote areas without stations are basically done for
It's not that a full-on rush to EVs is causing gasoline demand to crash — the main driver is simply the switch from pure gasoline cars to highly efficient hybrids (HVs). So it's not a sudden collapse, but a steady, reliable decline of around 2% a year.
This is the auto industry getting crushed as a matter of national policy
If you go along with the government, this is how you end up getting crushed in the end
"If you're not Toyota, you're not a company" — but as the old saying goes, the arrogant don't stay on top for 30 years (a riff on the classic Heike Monogatari line about the proud not lasting long)
Cutting off infrastructure, forcing relocations — if you want to do that, you'd better start by supporting a constitutional amendment
There are JA gas stations (agricultural co-op stations) all over too, so I probably won't have trouble for a while
Electricity from renewable power is just straight-up better
A people who can't handle accepting new things and changing their systems are hopeless
Water from rainwater run through RO filtration plus a natural spring, sewage handled by an infiltration system, electricity from solar and micro-hydro
Cars, cooking, and hot water all electric
But you can't really go on long trips with it
It's basically like a moped
If you accept that and only use it around town, it might be plenty
But factoring in repairs, eventual replacement, and so on,
without the subsidy the total cost-performance might actually be worse, or about the same
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry defines areas where a municipality has three or fewer gas stations (SS) as “SS-sparse areas,” and maintaining fuel supply networks in these depopulated areas has long been treated as a policy issue. In the thread, many users pinned the blame for closures on the shift to EVs itself, but in reality EV adoption in Japan remains low, and some pointed out that the real driver is the replacement of gasoline cars with fuel-efficient hybrids — a point on which the thread’s perceptions diverged from the facts. Even when EVs are adopted, challenges remain, such as installing charging equipment in apartment buildings and limited range for long trips, suggesting it isn’t as simple as “switching to EVs solves everything.” The government has also poured in subsidies to offset high gasoline prices, but the thread raised doubts about the profit margins of oil wholesalers and how the subsidies are actually being used, highlighting the tension between price countermeasures and maintaining the distribution network as competing priorities.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “Gas station closures accelerate — Heading toward an era of “no gas station nearby” #ExpertTopi.”
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