Mitsubishi's Multistory Car Park Charges Electric Cars

Dec 16, 2009 15:19 Hiroshi Idegawa, Nikkei Monozukuri

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Parking Co Ltd will start the operation of a multistory car park that has elevators and charging function for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) in January 2010.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Parking is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd's wholly-owned subsidiary.

The multistory car park, "Plug-in Lift Park," is based on the "Lift Park," Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Parking's multistory car park for use in condominium buildings, office buildings, etc. This time, charging outlets are mounted on the pallets on which cars are parked.

An EV or PHV can be charged just by parking the car after connecting a charging cable to it. Users can fully charge their vehicles while they are parked, for example, in the night.

Expecting the growing use of EVs and PHVs, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Parking plans not only to offer new parks but to remodel existing facilities. Also, it intends to add the charging function to other types of parks such as a vertical hoisting type and a flat floor type.

Furthermore, the company plans to add a function to reduce power consumption by using the regenerative energy of elevators and develop an environmentally-friendly multistory car park that uses solar power.

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