Shenzhen’s Taxi Fleet Goes Fully Electric As Well

One of China’s biggest cities, Shenzhen, is a global business hub. It has taken significant steps to adopt public transportation that’s not powered by conventional fuels. The city has the world’s largest fully electric bus fleet, more than 16,000 buses that ply its roads run on electric motors. Almost all of the city’s taxis are now electric as well.

Shenzhen has been working hard to achieve its goal of green public transport for the past couple of years. It has been shifting taxis from diesel to electric and it has now been announced by the Transport Commission of Shenzhen that 99 percent of over 21,000 taxis are now battery-powered.

There’s a reason why the remaining 1,300 or so vehicles haven’t been deployed as yet. The city doesn’t have enough charging stations. Once additional charging capacity is built, the remaining electric taxis will be put on the roads as well and Shenzhen would become the world’s only city with a fully electric taxi and bus fleet.

Such a massive reduction in the use of diesel for public transportation will certainly result in a carbon emissions cut. However, the true benefit will only be reaped if the electric that’s being produced to power these vehicles is from clean sources instead of dirtier sources like coal.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Transportation
Tags: China