Winner announced for “Japan EV of the Year 2022” award, sponsored by ENECHANGE and EVSmart

ENECHANGE Ltd., together with the EVSmart blog, which has been providing information on electric vehicles (EVs), hosted the “Japan EV of the Year 2022” award with the aim of promoting the future of EVs and EV charging ports in Japan. The best EV of the year was selected from the EVs sold in Japan from October 2021 to September 2022.

Grand Prix: Nissan Sakura 397 points

General Vote: 208 points / Evangelist Vote: 189 points

Reason for Award:
This EV mini-car was introduced to the Japanese market some time ago. It was highly acclaimed for its high quality package, including interior and driving support functions, at an accessible price point. Although the battery is small and the cruising range is relatively short, it presents an entry into daily EV use and its driving performance, leading to high expectations for the maturation of EV usage. It also won the Japan Car of the Year award in the minicar category and received many accolades for its strong sales record, which boosted the EV share of new car sales in Japan.

Excellence Award: Hyundai IONIQ 5 286 points

General Voting 153 points / Evangelist Voting 133 points

Reason for Award:
The body design, such as the fully adjustable front seats and the hnique clamshell hood, is superb, which only an EV-oriented platform could provide. It also outperforms other vehicles in quick charging using the CHAdeMO standard. Voters lauded the the regenerative braking control with steering paddles and V2L compatibility, and felt it had a strong appeal as an EV and was highly valued for its cost-effectiveness, taking is a different approach to Tesla.

Excellence Award: Tesla Model Y 225 points

General Voting 153 points / Evangelist Voting 72 points

Reason for Award:
In addition to the outstanding user interface, the EV was recognized for the high quality of advanced features such as Autopilot, OTA*, charging performance, and battery temperature management. In addition, the presence of the Supercharger, a high-power fast charging infrastructure that Tesla is independently expanding, was evaluated as a significant advantage over other vehicles that can only use CHAdeMO standard fast chargers.
*OTA =Abbreviation for “Over the Air”, meaning exchanging data via wireless communication.

433 people participated in the public vote

Online voting was open from December 8, 2022 to January 31, 2023, and 433 people cast their votes for the selected models with their recommendation comments, bringing the total public voting points to 800 (each person could select up to 3 models). In addition, 30 people, including representatives of media outlets that disseminate EV information and key persons from EV-related companies, voted as evangelists for a total of 572 points.

The official Japan EV of the Year website (https://japan-ev-of-the-year.enechange.jp/) can be found here.

About Japan EV of the Year

The year 2021-2022 was a landmark year for the spread of EVs in Japan, with more than 20 new EV models, including minicars, going on sale in Japan. Both ENECHANGE, which aims to realize a sustainable society through the spread of EV chargers, and EVsmart, which has been providing information on electric vehicles since the early days of the EV industry, the year 2022 is the first year of EVs. We have launched “Japan EV of the Year” as a project to find EVs that society is looking for. Voters are evangelists, who have been disseminating information about EVs mainly through web media, and members of the general public. The EV of the Year will be selected based on the concept of “Let’s choose and support electric vehicles together”.

●Japan EV of the Year website　https://japan-ev-of-the-year.enechange.jp/

ENECHANGE Ltd.

ENECHANGE is an energy technology company that promotes a carbon-free society through digital technology with the mission of Changing Energy For A Better World. We offer services based on data utilization in the field of the 4Ds of Energy: Deregulation, Digitalization, Decarbonization, and Decentralization. Our company’s roots come from an energy data lab at the University of Cambridge, U.K., a country where liberalization is mature. ENECHANGE has a British subsidiary, SMAP Energy Limited, as well as a global network and analytical technology for energy data.

URL: https://enechange.co.jp/en/

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