Gary Zhou 
Tesla has announced that it has placed its 50th supercharger in Japan, continuing the company’s expansion in Asia.
This year, Tesla has worked to expand its presence and product offerings in Asia. The Tesla Model Y has been making waves in numerous Asian markets, Tesla started a virtual power plant in Japan, and the Tesla Model S Plaid has been spotted multiple times in China ahead of a possible launch in the country. Now the company has announced its 50th supercharger placed in Japan.
Japan poses a unique challenge to Tesla’s charging infrastructure. The land is often sold at a premium due to space constraints. At the same time, Tesla must battle smaller and cheaper EV offerings that are usually only charged at home.
Looking at the map of Supercharger locations supplied by Tesla Japan, you can understand how the company has approached this problem. Foremost, the vast majority of the now 50 superchargers (red dots) are located in and around cities such as Tokyo and Osaka; the rest of the country is covered by many smaller destination chargers (200+ yellow dots).
While this would run counter to Tesla’s American charging locations that specifically target areas of significant amounts of travel, due to the relatively smaller size of the Japanese country, the company can get away with focusing on city centers while smaller and cheaper destination chargers service the small number of rural areas.
Along with placing their 50th Supercharger location in Japan, Tesla is now running a giveaway on their Japanese website for a free rental of a Tesla Model 3 for three days and free supercharging.
Japan is just one of the numerous Asian countries that will likely see an explosion of electric vehicles within the coming years, mirroring the market situation of China. The population density of the county, as well as the often high cost of gas, could be significant motivators for consumers to move to electric options in the coming years.
