Nomura Real Estate Holdings Inc., one of Japan’s biggest listed property developers, sees electric vehicles as one key plank in its green building platform.
The company is constructing what it says will be Japan’s first fully emissions-free condominium powered by gas and electricity — a high-rise luxury residential tower in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture — a city about an hour’s drive from Tokyo. Every parking spot in the building’s three-level basement will have its own electric-car charging point and the garage will also feature spare chargers for visitors.
"Electric cars will be widely adopted in the future,” Tetsumi Yoshimura, an executive officer at Nomura Real Estate, said. While EV penetration in Japan will still be low by 2025 when the condo is expected to be finished (it’s running at about 1% currently), it’s "crucial to set up the hardware now for an EV era,” he said.