Sumitomo also launched the New Business Development & Promotion Division, which is responsible for environmental businesses and is working on developing new approaches to realizing a low-carbon, recycling-based society. Aiming to realize such a society, the company will also support the widespread adoption of next-generation vehicles including EV through the second-life use of lithium-ion batteries for automotive use, the development of the system that facilitates "Green IT" and the auto lease business by its affiliate company, Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service Company.
With the goal of becoming a global leader in zero-emission mobility, Nissan launched its mass-market EV, Nissan LEAF in Japan on December 20th with Nissan-developed quick chargers going on sale previously in May. Through the new service, the company intends to accelerate the development of infrastructure essential to promoting EV and achieve both greater convenience to users and business feasibility.
NEC will provide various systems utilizing cloud computing in the membership management, including quick charging services, member authentication and payment processing. Through this new business, the company will improve convenience for users with the establishment of a new infrastructure that takes advantage of networked charging facilities and ICT technologies to promote a whole new service that will contribute to the environment.
In order to create further synergy for the business, the three companies will leverage their combined know-how in gaining support from a wide-range of organizations from all industries. The first trial service is set to start within Kanagawa prefecture early next fiscal year, in collaboration with the prefecture and its local governments.
NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company’s experience and global resources, NEC’s advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. was established in 1933 to manufacture and market the Datsun, a small passenger car, and related automotive components. The company markets a wide range of passenger cars, commercial vans, trucks and buses, parts and components in over one hundred and seventy countries. The company has also expanded its operations to include forklifts, textile machinery and other industrial machinery and equipment. Nissan’s affiliation with French automaker Renault in 1999 has helped produce Nissan’s best results in a decade. The company has three hundred and forty two consolidated subsidiaries worldwide.
Founded in 1919, Sumitomo Corporation (TSE: 8053; US: SSUMY) is one of the largest, major general trading companies in Japan. Sumitomo Corporation runs 26 offices in Japan and 124 overseas branches in 69 countries. Sumitomo Corporation not only conducts commodity transactions in all industries utilizing worldwide networks, but also provides related customers with various financing, serves as an organizer and a coordinator for various projects, and invests in businesses from the information industry to the retailing industry. Sumitomo Corporation thus shows great diversification as an Integrated Business Enterprise. Trading industries are Metal, Transportation & Construction Systems, Machinery & Electric, Media, Electronics, & Network, Chemical, Mineral Resources & Energy, Consumer Goods & Service, Material & Real Estate, and Financial & Logistics.
