Toyota Media Service Corporation (head office in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture; president, Shigeki Tomoyama; "Toyota Media Service"), Toyota Industries Corporation (head office in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture; president, Akira Onishi; "Toyota Industries") and Nihon Unisys, Ltd. (head office, Koto-ku, Tokyo; president, Shigeru Kurokawa; "Nihon Unisys") have started collaboration between the national charging infrastructure map, a smartphone app for searching for charging facility information across the country, with NaviCon, an app that connects to car navigation systems to transmit information from the app. Additionally, the companies also started to provide charging facility information service for local governments and related organizations since August 5.

The national charging infrastructure map was developed by the three companies for smartphone search of charging facility information, as part of the EV/PHV usage promotion platform under the Ministry of the Environment's FY2015 Low Carbon Technology Research and Development Program.

In the past, drivers needed to enter search results from the national charging infrastructure map app once again on their car navigation systems. With NaviCon, they are now able to send the charging facility information to the navigation system with just a single touch, and can also easily search for routes to the facility. In addition, sightseeing information for areas near charging facilities will be made available for a limited period (August 5?October 30) as part of a verification project on the effectiveness of coordinating charging facility information with tourist information.

A browser version of the national charging infrastructure map for PCs and tablets will also be introduced for local governments and related organizations in order to make available the charging facility information organized by this platform.

This latest app upgrade is not focused on changes in user behavior regarding their reason for charging, as in past verification projects involving participation of EV/PHV users; rather, it focuses on the reason for behavior, which is the fundamental objective of users, by offering tourism information and charging facility information that users want. This is expected to resolve user anxieties over power shortage and dissatisfaction related to using charging facilities, as well as promote the use of charging facilities and contribute to further CO2 emission reductions. Toyota Media Service, Toyota Industries, and Nihon Unisys will share their respective charging facility data to promote the use of EVs and PHVs.