Shenzhen Switches More Than 20,000 Taxis To Electric Vehicles

Shenzhen, the electronic capital of the world and sister city of Hong Kong, reach another milestone, after switching all 16,000 public buses from combustion engine to electric vehicles end of 2017.

Almost the entire fleet of 21,689 taxis was replaced with electric vehicles. A total of 20,135 vehicles – currently account for 94 percent of all taxis in the city – are now fully electric. Most of the vehicles come – as was already the case with the buses – from Chinese car manufacturer BYD.

The switch of all buses and taxis has already visible and hearable results for the population. The air is much cleaner than in the past, and also traffic noise has noticeably decreased.

Challenges are posed by the lacking charging infrastructure. Despite the city installing thousands of new charging stations, the speed of replacing the vehicles has been outpacing the increasing number of charging stations.

Here is the announcement by the city (translated from Chinese with Google Translate):

There are 20135 pure electric taxis operated by Shenzhen, accounting for 94.21% of the total number of taxis.
Shenzhen Municipal Communications Commission said on the 3rd that the proportion of pure electric taxis operating in Shenzhen has reached 94.21%, and 1,350 vehicles will gradually operate. The taxi industry in Shenzhen has basically achieved pure electrification. Through pure electrification, Shenzhen’s “red, green” integration problems are solved.

As one of the 13 pilot cities in China’s “energy-saving and new energy vehicle demonstration and promotion”, Shenzhen has been promoting new energy vehicles nationwide since 2010. On January 3, 2019, the Shenzhen Municipal Communications Commission announced that Shenzhen taxis were basically purely electrified.

According to the Municipal Communications Commission, as of the end of December 2018, there were 21,689 taxi indicators in the city, including 21,485 pure electric taxis. The number of pure electric taxis that have been operated is 20135, accounting for 94.21% of the total number of taxis; there are still 1,350 electric taxis to be put into operation after being charged.

The data shows that the current fuel surcharge for Shenzhen fuel taxis is 2 yuan / time. According to this calculation, the annual surcharges for the 21,400 electric taxis in Shenzhen are as high as 625 million yuan. In terms of energy conservation, pure electric taxis save 69.5% more energy than traditional gasoline vehicles. Nearly 21,000 pure electric taxis have a total annual energy saving of 323,000 tons of standard coal and 226,000 tons of alternative fuel. In terms of carbon dioxide emission reduction, 21,000 pure electric cruise vehicles can reduce carbon emissions by 856,000 tons a year, equivalent to one year’s carbon dioxide absorption of green vegetation in the Wutong Mountain Scenic Area. In terms of pollutant emission reduction, annual pollutant emission reductions such as nitrogen oxides, non-methane hydrocarbons and particulate matter will reach 438 tons.
http://www.sztb.gov.cn/zwgk/jtzx/gzdt/czdt/201901/t20190104_15246494.htm

The following video from the South China Morning Post also talks about some challenges with charging station infrastructure for such a massive undertaking.