日本电动汽车业后继乏力

    日本虽然在开发电动汽车上走在世界前列，但现在很大程度上已经不再迷恋所谓的电动汽车了。

    这并不是说日本人不关心二氧化碳排放量。日本已经花了大笔经费研发内燃机引擎的替代产品，同时日本的混合动力汽车销量笑傲全球。去年，丰田汽车（Toyota）在日本卖出的40%的汽车都是混合动力车型，不可谓不惊人。

    但是，尽管日本政府慷慨地提供了购买电动汽车的补贴，而且甚至连美国产的电动汽车特斯拉（Tesla）都用上了日本的创新技术，但是日本车主们却觉得购买电动汽车很不划算，甚至觉得电动汽车有“政治问题”。

    这是为什么？麦肯锡咨询公司（McKinsey）近日发布的一份报告指出，三分之一的日本电动汽车车主表示，他们再也不会买电动汽车了。理由包括：电动车车价太高，电费上涨，以及找充电的地方很麻烦等等。而最新一个让人们讨厌电动汽车的理由是，很多人觉得，这些电动汽车与导致福岛核泄露的那家电力公司之间存在某种联系。

    根据当地的一家周刊报道，在大阪有一家由50辆日产聆风电动车（Nisan Leaf EV）组成的全电动出租车公司。福岛核泄露事故发生前，这家公司的服务一度很受欢迎。但是灾难发生后，乘客们视电力公司为耻，因此这家出租车公司的业务也枯竭了。一位出租车司机告诉这家周刊：“生意糟透了，他们的收入还不到普通出租车的一半，对电动出租车的需求已经结束了。”

    在电动汽车上下注最多的人可能当属日产公司的CEO卡洛斯•高森。不过据一位分析师表示，日产聆风电动车目前只卖出了6万台，其中还有一半是在日本售出的，表明人们悄悄地忽略了电动汽车，转而追捧更加热门的混合动力汽车，比如丰田普锐斯（Toyota Prius）。日产公司仍然表示，希望在2016年之前卖出150万台聆风电动车。聆风的首席设计师门田英稔表示，聆风面临的最大问，仍然是车主的“里程焦虑症”和电池容量问题。他说：“如果你问聆风的车主，他们会告诉你，他们想要更长的续航里程。所以不管我们对这款车做出怎样的改进，不论是电池，还是系统——尤其是电池，我们都在开发新的方法，使它超过现有的容量。”

    瑞士信贷公司（Credit Suisse）分析师高桥一才表示，较高的价格和有限的续航里程对少数既有钱又热心环保的日本人并不算什么，但是尽管日本政府向电动车提供了购车补贴，普通人家面对28,000美元的车价还是望而却步。他说：“电动汽车有一些基本的局限，比如成本、续航里程，以及充电站的缺乏等等。但是最重要的是，日本大地震之后，电价变得非常昂贵，会刺激消费者的情绪。”

    Japan -- a leader in the development of electrically powered vehicles -- has largely failed to fall for so-called EVs.

    Not that the Japanese don't care about CO2 emissions. Millions of dollars have been spent by the state to promote greener alternatives to the internal combustion engine, while hybrid car purchases remain the highest in the world. Last year a whopping 40% of Toyota's (TM) sales in Japan were hybrids.

    But despite generous government subsidies to buy EV and Japanese innovations that power even the U.S.-made Tesla (TSLA), Japanese motorists are starting to see them as costly and even, oddly, politically incorrect.

    Why? A report by McKinsey consultancy says up to a third of Japanese customers for EVs say they would not buy again. They were put off by their high price, higher electric bills, and the considerable bother of locating places to charge their cars says the survey. But the new reason to hate the vehicles now is they are tainted by association with the electric power company that suffered and, in many minds, helped cause the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns.

    According to one local weekly an all-electric taxi service in Osaka with 50 Nisan Leaf EVs was a hit before the nuclear disaster. Then, as the crisis developed and passengers came to view power suppliers with contempt, demand dried up. "Business stinks," one driver told the weekly. "Their takings are less than half that of regular cars. Demand for EV taxis is over."

    Arguably the biggest bet on EVs is by Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan (NSANY). But with only 60,000 of its Leaf EVs sold -- half of those in Japan -- the vehicle is being quietly shunned in favor of more popular hybrids like Toyota's Prius, say analysts. Nissan says it still hopes to sell 1.5 million of its green-mobiles by 2016. Motorists' "range-anxiety" and battery capacity remain top issues for Nissan, says its chief vehicle engineer Hidetoshi Kadota. "If you talk to Leaf owners, they want more range. So, whatever we can do to change the car, the battery, the system -- especially the battery, we are developing ways to improve it beyond its current capacity."

    High prices and limited range haven't deterred a minority of rich Japanese eco-enthusiasts, but ordinary motorists have balked at the $28,000 price tag even after the state eco subsidy, says autos analyst Issai Takahashi of Credit Suisse, Tokyo. "There are basic constraints such as cost, range, and lack of recharging stations. But on top of that, after the quake, electricity is getting very expensive, which will drive the sentiment of consumers," he says.