Can you guess where the largest electric bus and electric taxi fleet is?
If you guessed Kalamazoo, Michigan, I’m sorry, but you’re wrong (why you would have guessed that, I don’t know). However, if you guessed Shenzhen City, China, you were right on point (and I guess you probably knew that).
Previously, the fleet included “200 of BYD’s all-electric eBUS’s and 300 of BYD’s all-electric e6’s (a 5 passenger sedan that serves well as an eTaxi).” The expansion will add 1500 pure electric K9 buses and e6 taxis (1000 of the buses and 500 of the taxis).
“Shenzhen is the first city in China to implement a subsidy for new energy vehicles and the first city to launch consumer sales of the BYD e6,” Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) Director Xiangzhen Lu says.
“SDRC cited rising oil prices and growing environmental pressures as key reasons to transform the public transportation system,” a news release on the electric vehicle fleet expansion notes.
“Shenzhen City believes electrified transportation offers the most effective way to simultaneously stimulate economic recovery while restoring the environment by lowering CO2 emissions.”
Beyond boosting this public transportation fleet, the city is looking to stimulate more private EV purchasing and use with new policies on the topic. These new policies are broad and extensive:
The SDRC announced that Shenzhen is formulating measures to impose fees on emissions from gasoline cars while rewarding alternative energy vehicle drivers based on distance traveled. Other incentive policies include allowing pure electric drivers to use the public bus lane during rush hour, insurance privileges, and free annual maintenance checks. China’s Southern Power Grid Company has agreed to install free-of-charge, two electric vehicle charging poles for each Shenzhen EV driver — one at the home or apartment of the driver and another near the EV driver’s place of business. Shenzhen City continues to offer extremely affordable peak and off-peak electricity prices for new energy vehicle users, reducing nightly charging costs to only 0.3yuan RMB per KWh (~$0.04 USD/KWh equivalent).
The short-term hope is that 3,000 more private EVs will be on Shenshen’s streets in 2012, accompanied by 6,000 more EC charging stations.
No complaints here.
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Source: Business Wire | Images: BYD
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