The chargers I've seen are actually built into the parking log. [0] Image of ones similar to the ones I've seen. People who have an electric vehicles at home d

The chargers I've seen are actually built into the parking log. [0] Image of ones similar to the ones I've seen. People who have an electric vehicles at home do, indeed, have a large cable similar to what you see on that image. It's better than it looks, because it retracts into the wall. I've never had a close look at ti, but I assume the coupling is protected from water somehow. Keep in mind that I live in the countryside. Large cities have serious parking challenges. I'm not surprised that San Jose has lots of electric vehicles on the streets (more than Japan), but that is hardly typical of the US. Overall, both countries have very little penetration at this point. As for hybrids, the top 2 selling cars in Japan last year were essentially the Prius with over 300k vehicles [1]. Admittedly, there isn't anything else making a big impact, but that's still quite a large percentage of the overall market. [0] http://electriccarsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/charging-points-japan.jpg http://electriccarsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cha... [1] http://www.best-selling-cars.com/japan/2016-full-year-japan-30-best-selling-car-models/ http://www.best-selling-cars.com/japan/2016-full-year-japan-...