Beijing Is Preparing To Replace Its Entire Taxi Fleet With Electric Cars
By CarAndBike Team Mar 04, 2017 01:18 PM
Authorities in Beijing are working on a plan to replace all of the city's taxis with electric vehicles. The plan of action to convert the city's cabs from gasoline to electricity is aimed at controlling air pollution in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and surrounding areas in 2017. A National Business Daily (NBD) report claims the transition to electric vehicles will include all new taxis registered in the region. The Chinese capital's struggle with air pollution has made headlines several times in the recent past. Case in point: last year in December, authorities declared a five-day pollution 'red alert' that ordered thousands of vehicles off the roads, shut down schools, and advised Beijing residents to stay indoors.
The new program that will begin implementation this year will affect nearly 70,000 taxis in Beijing and is expected to cost around ₹ 130 crore (9 billion yuan). There's also the consideration that electric vehicles cost nearly twice as much as conventional cars. Though initially expensive, the plan will lead to long-term benefits such as a decrease in pollution and the development of the alternate energy vehicles industry.
It must be noted that Beijing added about 200 electric taxis to its roads in 2014. Unfortunately, drivers of these cars often battled with queues at charging stations. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Cars Association, in an interview to NBD, said, "If Beijing can speed up the construction of charging facilities at the same time, it will yield significant results."
