Japan | ENGEAR ENGLISH

JAPAN’S Big Four Companies (Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Honda) and the energy company Eneos have formed Gachaco, a electric scooter battery swapping service in the Japanese market.

Initially, Gachaco was targeted for business and delivery use only and could only be used for certain models of Honda electric scooters, such as Benly e:, Gyro e:, Gyro Canopy e:, and EM1 e:.

Only the EM1 e: model is available for public purchase, where interested individuals can subscribe to Gachaco’s battery swapping service.

By reclassifying the battery as a service and excluding it from the selling price, Honda customers can obtain the EM1 e: scooter at a lower cost, approximately 97,200 yen (RM3,167).

What they need to do is subscribe to Gachaco’s battery swapping service based on their current usage. For example, the basic plan starts at about 1,078 yen per month (RM35 per month), while the standard plan costs 2,805 yen per month (RM91.39 per month).

Gachaco also offers a pay-per-use option for each usage, priced at 180 yen per kWh (RM5.86 per kWh).

At present, the Gachaco battery swapping service, which utilizes the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: unit, is only available in Japan.

THE Toyota Crown Sport, which is one of the four models in the Crown lineup, is now available with a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain in its home market, where it is priced from 7.65 million yen (RM248,030).

Similar to the hybrid version, the aforementioned powertrain employs the A25A-FXS 2.5-litre Dynamic Force engine, but in this version, the engine is assisted by a pair of electric motors.

On its own, the engine develops 177 PS and 219 Nm of torque, while the front and rear electric motors generate 182 PS/270 Nm and 54 PS/121 Nm, respectively.

The ICE-electric motor combo provides the Crown Sport PHEV with an E-Four all-wheel drive system and a healthy total system output of 306 PS.

With a 51-Ah lithium-ion battery, the SUV is capable of traveling up to 90 km without using a drop of fuel.

Not only that, it is also said to offer a fuel consumption rate of about 20.3 km/l and with a 55-litre fuel tank, it boasts a total cruising range of more than 1,200 km on a full tank.

According to Toyota, the Crown Sport PHEV supports both standard and rapid charging, with the latter enabling a charge to 80% power in 38 minutes.

The exterior may appear to be unchanged from the hybrid version, but underneath the gorgeous sheetmetal lies an additional braces to the floor tunnel to ensure an optimal balance of body rigidity.

Furthermore, the damping characteristics of the Adaptive Variable Suspension (AVS) system have been retuned for smoother and more stable ride.

The Crown Sport PHEV comes standard with 21-inch aluminum rims, 20-inch ventilated disc brakes with red calipers on all four corners, black and red interior colour scheme, paddle shifters and sports seats.

Other features include the Vehicle to Home (V2H) that can provide enough electricity for about 6.5 days of use in emergency situations, and My Room Mode, which allows users to enjoy air conditioning and audio systems from an external power source.