Japan now has more car charging points than gas stations

TOKYO, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Nissan Motor Co. has reported that Japan now has more places to charge electric vehicles than gas stations.

The country has roughly 34,000 gas stations, compared to 40,000 charging points. The charging points range from stations to home setups.

"An important element of the continued market growth is the development of the charging infrastructure," Nissan Chief Financial Officer Joseph G. Peter told analysts on a conference call, according to Bloomberg Business.

Charging stations are becoming more prevalent, with companies like Tesla recently announcing it will start setting up free charging stations all over China to expand the market.

It is expected there will be at least 1 million electric vehicles on the road worldwide by 2016.