PRESS RELEASE
  • Press Release

ENECHANGE, D-Sharing Co., Ltd, and Cyber Creative Institute to conduct a large-scale social experiment to realize Zero Carbon Drive proposed by Ministry of the Environment

ENECHANGE Ltd. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & CEO: Yohei Kiguchi, PhD, hereafter, ‘the Company’’) announces that it will conduct a large-scale social experiment to encourage the charging of electric vehicles (EVs) at designated times (hereafter referred to as “the EV Charging Demonstration Project”), in collaboration with D-Sharing Co., Ltd (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; President: Naoki Sakai; hereafter, ‘D-Sharing’) and Cyber Creative Institute Co., Ltd. (Cyber Soken) (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Hirohiko Sato; hereafter, ‘Cyber Creative Institute’). The EV Charging Demonstration Project is part of the Ministry of the Environment’s “Nudge x Digital Decarbonization Lifestyle Transformation Promotion Project,” which has been implemented since 2022.

Background

To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, both the widespread use of renewable energies and flexible adjustment of electricity demand through demand response (DR) are important. Among these, solar power generation is attracting attention as a clean energy source that does not emit CO2, but it has the problem that the amount of power generated is affected by weather conditions. Hence, there is a need for methods such as selling the surplus from solar power generation to energy companies, storing it in batteries, and using it to charge EVs.
The Government has set a target of increasing the proportion of electric vehicles in new passenger car sales to 100% by 2035. To meet this goal, it has indicated that it will increase the installation of EV charging ports to 300,000 units by 2030, double the previous target of 150,000. As the environment is being developed to promote EVs, we believe that the efficient use of renewable energy, including solar power, for mobility, as well as the location and operating rate of EV charging infrastructure, will become important issues for realizing a decarbonized society in the future. The following are some of the key issues to be addressed.

The EV Charging Demonstration Project

The EV Charging Demonstration Project to be jointly conducted by D-Sharing, Cyber Creative Institute, and the Company will be a large-scale social experiment to realize the zero-carbon drive advocated by the Ministry of the Environment. D-Sharing and the Cyber Creative Institute have been commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment to conduct the “Nudge x Digital Decarbonized Lifestyle Transformation Promotion Project” (*1) since 2022, and the experiment will be conducted as part of this.

The Company is implementing the “EV Zero Carbon Drive Demonstration Campaign” to encourage EV charging at designated times during the demonstration period, targeting via email 1,000 app users who use ENECHANGE EV Charge charging ports operated by the Company and requesting them to charge via the app. By collecting and analysing (*2) the charging data records obtained from this project, we will explore effective methods to reduce CO2 emissions in the future. We believe that this projectt is a meaningful project for the further spread of EVs and EV charging infrastructure and the realization of GX – not only for the development of EV-related services to promote a decarbonized society, but also the development of new electricity tariffs proposals, behavioural change DR, and other services.

App users will be recruited via a special campaign website, and the progress of the EV Charging Demonstration Project will be announced on both the D-Sharing website and our Company websites.

*1 Ministry of the Environment press release, 7 July 2023, ‘Results of the Ministry of the Environment’s Nudge Project‘.
*2 We will analyse the records of charging at the charging spots. In doing so, we anonymise and analyse personally identifiable information.

EV Zero Carbon Drive Demonstration Campaign

App users are invited to participate in this demonstration. For more information, please see the URL below.

Campaign overview
Application period: 28 September (Thu) – 22 October (Sun), 2023.
Number of applicants: 1,000 (in the event of a large number of applicants, a lottery will be held).
Project period: 1 November (Wed) – 22 November (Wed), 2023.
Eligibility: Applicants must fulfil all of the following conditions.
1. Be registered on the ENECHANGE EV Charge App
2. Own and use electric vehicles themselves (excluding hybrid vehicles including plug-in range extenders)
3. Agree with the content of the EV Charging Demonstration Project and are willing to cooperate during the project period
4. Complete a questionnaire at the end of the project period
Special campaign website: https://enechange.co.jp/zerocarbon-drive/

D-Sharing Co., Ltd.

D-Sharing is a start-up founded in 2017 with a vision of achieving EV adoption and decarbonizing and stabilizing the electricity system together. It is a member of the UN-led 24/7 Carbon Free Energy Compact and uses a unique patented technology and behavioural change methodology to measure CO2 emissions from electricity consumption on an hourly basis.
They were commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment’s Nudge Demonstration Project to achieve the same amount of simultaneous local renewable energy through precise calculations.

Location: 2-14-13 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
URL: https://www.d-sharing.jp/
X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/dsharingco

Cyber Creative Institute Company Limited

Cyber Creative Institute provides customers who are in charge of planning, research and development on the front line with the latest technical information, research and analysis for problem-solving, and materials and alternatives for strategic studies. We are a think-tank, consulting firm and research company, provide various types of business support and training, and continue to work as a company offering intellectual added value.

Location: 2F Maeda Road Shirokane Bldg, 5-22-12 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo
URL: https://www.cybersoken.com/

ENECHANGE Ltd.

ENECHANGE is an energy technology company that promotes a net zero society through digital technology with the mission of Changing Energy For A Better World. We offer services based on data utilisation 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 liberalisation is mature. ENECHANGE has a British subsidiary, ENECHANGE Innovation Limited, as well as a global network and analytical technology for energy data.

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

■For inquiries
ENECHANGE Ltd.
pr@enechange.co.jp