China Replacing 70,000 Petrol-fueled Taxis With Electric

Almost 70,000 fossil-fueled taxis in China’s capital city of Beijing are to be replaced with electrically-powered models.

Though there has been no issued deadline on the initiative, the ambitious legislation won’t necessarily assist in significantly cutting down on CO2 emissions within the area, but it will help usher in a new era of sustainably-fueled vehicles.

According to a draft work program on air pollution control, the campaign will cost about $1.3 billion US dollars since electric cars are currently priced double as much as gasoline-powered cars.

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All newly-added taxis following the draft must be electrically-powered as well.

Beijing plans on accommodating the boom in electric cars by speeding up the construction of more charging facilities within the city.

Representatives hope that with the shift towards electric cars, the Chinese government will award more grant subsidies to new-energy taxis, thus easing the financial burden of alternatively-fueled vehicles.

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