Marubeni Corporation (hereinafter, “Marubeni”), together with Nagano Prefecture and Panasonic Corporation (hereinafter, “Panasonic”), will conduct a demonstration project (hereinafter, the “Demonstration”) at the Nagano Prefectural Government buildings of the Matsumoto Regional Development Bureau. The Demonstration aims to achieve appropriate allocation and charging management of electric vehicles (hereinafter, “EVs”), with a view to solving issues associated with the operation of multiple EVs.

 

As part of the Demonstration, Marubeni and Panasonic will develop a system that links Marubeni’s fleet management system “Omakase EV for Biz” and Panasonic’s charging control system “Charge-ment,” tailored to the Matsumoto Regional Development Bureau, which retains EVs initiatively as official vehicles of its offices.

This system will optimize vehicle allocation in line with both driving distance information accessed when reservations are completed and the battery capacities of respective vehicles. The system will also facilitate reliable charging by checking the connection status of chargers in a timely manner and alerting the user as to this status, thus enabling more EVs to be used effectively and efficiently and thereby contributing to the reduction of CO₂ emissions.

The system will also address the issues associated with charging multiple EVs at the same time, such as excessive costs caused by increased electricity demand during peak hours, and capacity increases at power receiving facilities. As part of the Demonstration, the timing of charging will be subject to automatic controls based on vehicle dispatch plans designed to mitigate the maximum power demand to the extent possible, as well as to equalize levels of power usage.

Marubeni formulated its long-term vision to combat climate change in March 2021, and positions Green Strategy as one of its basic policies to enhance corporate value in its mid-term management strategy “GC2024”. Marubeni will continue to develop and deploy decarbonization solutions to promote EVs.

Demonstration Overview