Shenzhen Takes Global Lead In Electrified Bus And Taxi Usage


Shenzhen is a Chinese city with more than 11 million residents and a serious pollution problem. Its smog problem has been likened to a nuclear winter and it's now approaching the point where air quality is below that considered safe by WHO for weeks, if not months at a time.

Whilst manufacturing - major growth factor in the city over the last twenty-five years - is the main cause, a major contributing factor is vehicle pollution. The city is taking steps to combat that particular element and in doing so has placed itself at the head of EV utilisation for public transport globally.

The city's Head of Public Transportation, Zheng Jingyu, has announced that the city has completed a program to electrify over 16,000 buses, making the city the first in the world to completely move its bus service to electricity. 

It has also moved more than 60% of taxis to electricity - another 12,000 vehicles - and will continue its push to electrify the remainder by 2020.

In order to keep the fleet moving, Shenzhen and its bus and taxi operators, have built 8,000 charging points and a massive 510 bus charging stations. With vehicles able to complete a full charge cycle from empty in around two hours.

The cost to the city has been around $0.5bn, which seems like an impressively cost efficient program. With pollution reduction expected to be in the order of 1.5 million tons of Carbon Dioxide, the city is likely to see an improvement in air quality in a matter of years.

There remains the problem of cleaning up manufacturing, as well as the city's water supply - which remains unfit for human consumption for more than 85% of the available supply - but having successfully tackled such a large and complex program so quickly, it seems the city now has the capability to resolve those issues too.

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