South America’s Largest EV Taxi Service

Bogota, Colombia now boasts the largest EV taxi service in South America. And BYD is the company that has proudly supplied the electric cars.

45 BYD e6 EVs have been put to work on the streets of Bogota, transporting people around cleanly, quietly, and very smoothly (a benefit of EVs that I think doesn’t get nearly enough attention).

“BYD Co., Ltd., Codesa, Praco, Helm Bank, and ETC held a ceremony at Tercer Milenio Charging Station announcing and displaying all-electric e6 taxis to be put into service in the capital City of Colombia,” a press release earlier this month noted.

“Dr. Gustavo Petro Urrero, Mayor of Bogota, Dr. Adriana Soto Carreño, Deputy Minister of the Department of the Environment and Sustainability, Dr. Néstor García Buitrago, District Secretary of Environment and other important guests were in attendance.”

The press release notes that one of the key reasons for the EV taxi rollout (and the broader clean transportation program it’s a part of) is to deal with air pollution from gasmobiles. “According to a report from the World Bank in 2012, the economic loss caused by air pollution in Colombia is 570 million pesos (local currency) every year, and pollution from dirty petroleum transportation may have played a role in as many as 5,000 deaths in the country.”

The BYD e6 crossover EV was surely chosen due to its size, range, and affordability. “The BYD e6 is a 5-passenger, long-range, pure electric utility vehicle powered by BYD’s core technology Iron-Phosphate battery. It is a crossover between a sedan and a SUV with superior interior space and additional 450L cargo space. The nominal range of e6 from a single charge is 300 km. Using BYD’s internally-developed bi-directional charging and discharging technology, the e6 can be fully charged in 2 hours (0-100%). With over 800 e6 vehicles running as public eTaxis today, the e6 fleets have an accumulated range of over 100 million km (as of Aug, 1st, 2013). They are operated two shifts for nearly 24 hours with mid-day supplemental charging required. Through electrifying the city’s public taxi fleet, BYD e6 is achieving reduced Green House Gas emissions and reducing public health care costs.”

Kudos to Bogota and BYD for the EV taxi rollout. I think this is one of the larger EV taxi programs in existence — not just in South America, but around the world. However, it doesn’t compare to the 200-EV taxi program planned for Kiev, Ukraine that CleanTechnica unveiled last week.

Image Credits: BYD