China launches electric taxis for city commuters
By IANSMonday, May 17, 2010
BEIJING - China has launched a fleet of electric taxis in booming Shenzhen and is aiming to add more battery-operated vehicles in order to check the impact of global warming.
With the launch of 40 electric taxis Monday, Shenzhen city of southern Guangdong province has become the country’s first city to have environment-friendly transport in operation, said Hu Jianping, president of Shenzhen Bus Group (SBG).
“The E6 cars’ ET (environment technology) batteries give off zero emissions and cause no harm to the environment,” said Wang Chuanfu, chief executive of BYD, manufacturer of the electric taxis.
The five-seater E6, with a maximum speed of 140 km/h, consumes 21.5 KWH of power per 100 km and can run about 300 km on one charge, a record for a vehicle of its kind, Wang was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
The taxis, priced at around $40,000 each, can play a vital role in “building low-carbon urban transport system”, said Vice Mayor Zhang Siping, adding that Shenzhen plans to have more such taxis on its roads.
