Driving the shift toward a decarbonized society as a mobility platformer

In 2023, ahead of its industry peers, Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service (SMAS), the market leader in Japan’s auto leasing industry, declared its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and made reducing its environmental impact a pillar of its management. Going beyond the traditional framework of auto leasing, SMAS is accelerating its transformation into a mobility platformer that supports a sustainable society.

SMAS established a team dedicated to electric vehicles (EVs) in 2009, when Japan’s EV market was still in its infancy. The extensive expertise it has accumulated through a wealth of experience since then provides a robust foundation for its role as a mobility platformer.

At the core of SMAS’s business are its one-stop services for EVs. This comprehensive support framework extends beyond vehicle leasing to cover everything from vehicle selection and deployment through operation and after sales support. While its current services focus primarily on basic support for EV adoption, SMAS is also preparing to offer more advanced services, including energy management designed to balance electricity demand, with an eye to the future.

On the other hand, companies and municipalities are still hesitant about adopting EVs. The co-creation platform designed to overcome such psychological barriers is SMAS e-PARK. This initiative, launched in 2023, provides hands-on opportunities nationwide for people who have never experienced EVs.

Initially launched as test drive events organized solely by SMAS, SMAS e-PARK has since evolved into a major co-creation initiative involving municipalities, automakers, charger manufacturers, and others. Today, its activities extend beyond major metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Osaka to locations across Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south.

To provide advanced services, enhancing every employee’s knowledge and understanding of decarbonization is essential. To this end, SMAS runs SMAS Green-Lab., an educational and information-sharing initiative. Specifically, the company is promoting the acquisition of qualifications under the Ministry of the Environment’s Decarbonization Advisor Certification System across the organization. Initially launched in the sales department, this effort has spread to other departments, and by the end of April 2026, more than 250 employees had obtained certification.

For customers, SMAS holds seminars and webinars, and publishes a monthly newsletter, “SMAS Green‑Lab. News,” issued as a double‑sided A4 sheet. The newsletter provides updates on the latest EV trends and case studies, serving as an important conversation starter for sales represent tatives engaging with customers.

SMAS’s accumulated expertise has led to the development of its consulting business. A prime example is green fleet management, through which SMAS works closely with customers on environmental planning and supports them throughout the process. Rather than limiting its support to vehicle provision alone, SMAS adopts a multi dimensional approach, analyzing customers’ business challenges and actual vehicle use at each site and systematically proposing optimal CO₂ emissions reduction measures.

In February 2026, SMAS announced its support for EV adoption at ASTEM, a pharmaceutical wholesaler based in Oita City, Oita Prefecture, whose vehicle operations account for a high proportion of its CO₂ emissions. Through initiatives such as this, SMAS has offered practical solutions tailored to the characteristics of each industry. To help customer companies overcome the formidable challenge of decarbonization, SMAS becomes involved from the environmental planning stage onward.

Looking even further ahead, SMAS is developing a circular model centered on Reuse EV that puts circular-economy principles into practice in the mobility sector. This initiative aims to maximize the value of battery resources by reconditioning and reusing EVs that have reached the end of their lease terms.

Depending on battery state of health (SOH), SMAS proposes suitable applications to customers, ranging from primary use for long-distance operations, such as deliveries and sales activities, to secondary use for medium-distance operations, such as public-sector vehicles and local travel, and tertiary use for short-distance operations, such as travel within company premises.

In a demonstration project launched in 2023 in Nose Town and Toyono Town, Osaka Prefecture, SMAS confirmed the viability of Reuse EV for public-sector fleets. Since March 2025, it has also been testing the practicality in Okuizumo Town, Shimane Prefecture, and in snowy regions such as Toyama City and Tottori City. To address customer concerns about driving range and battery life, SMAS carefully explains the advantages using data from these trials.

The future SMAS hopes to create through these initiatives is nothing less than a sustainable society. More specifically, it seeks to realize three kinds of “eco”: eco friendly, economical, and economic security. Keeping vehicles in use for as long as possible minimizes their environmental impact, making the model “eco-friendly.” Reusing vehicles reduces costs, making it “economical.” Finally, creating a circular economy within Japan helps avoid used-vehicle exports and prevents rare metals from flowing overseas, thereby contributing to “economic security.” Realizing these three “ecos” will help bring about a sustainable society.