All Shenzhen Public Buses Now Electric

[Randy W]

I don't know if this article is accessible from where you are, so I'll just copy the whole thing. It talks about taxis also being replaced in 2018.

I had to turn off my VPN to get it to come up.

the buses are noticeably electric - smooth, and no shifting, with an entirely different sound, but not something you'd notice, unless, well - you noticed. The range was VERY impressive

These trips were each over an hour on electric buses - The Dapeng Fortress, Dameisha and Xiaomei

ALL SHENZHEN PUBLIC BUSES NOW ELECTRIC

2017-December-28 08:53 Shenzhen Daily
Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

SHENZHEN has become the world’s first city to electrify 100 percent of its public transit bus fleet, the city’s transport commission said yesterday.

The city is also home to the largest fleet of electric buses — 16,359 so far — and electric taxis in the world, the commission said at a press conference. A total of 12,518 taxis, or 62.5 percent of all taxis in the city, run on electricity.

“We will gradually replace the existing fuel-powered cabs with electricity-powered ones and complete the target by 2020, or even ahead of schedule,” said Zheng Jingyu, head of the public transport department of the city’s public transport administration bureau.

In 2018, the remaining 500 green cabs that are restricted from Futian, Luohu, Nanshan and Yantian districts, which constituted the former Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, will be replaced with electric cabs and be allowed to operate citywide.

A bus driver surnamed Wang of Route M211 started to drive electric buses a month ago, following the replacement.

“We had several rounds of training and passed strict exams before we were allowed to drive the e-buses,” he said.

The city has built 501 bus charging stations and 8,000 charging poles.

At Qinghu Bus Terminal, the Western Bus Group installed more than 30 charging poles in September.

“A bus can be fully charged within two hours and the charging poles can serve 300 buses a day,” said Guan Anguang, assistant manager of the terminal.

“Since the replacement, the bus terminal has become quiet, even as the e-buses are entering and exiting the terminal,” Guan said.

“The wide use of electric buses and cabs plays a significant role in improving air quality and constructing a beautiful Shenzhen,” said Lou Heru, vice head of the city’s transport commission.

The electric buses use 72.9 percent less energy than diesel buses. In a year, the buses could save the energy equivalent of 366,000 tons of standard coal, replacing 345,000 tons of fuel, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.35 million tons. The e-taxis will save the energy equivalent of 119,000 tons of standard coal, replacing 116,000 tons of fuel.

Shenzhen was chosen in 2009 as one of the 13 cities to pilot a national new-energy vehicle program.

In 2017, the city offered 3.3 billion yuan (US$490 million) in susidies for e-buses and the construction of charging facilities. The city has encouraged cab operators and private investors to invest in charging poles and stations for e-taxis.

[Randy W]

from the Sierra Club

 

When It Comes to Electric Buses, China Is Killing It

Every five weeks, the country adds the equivalent of London’s entire fleet to its streets

 

But China’s electric bus fleet has grown more rapidly than expected, jumping from 12,760 fully electric buses in 2014 to 115,700 in 2016, and the government took this as a cue to set a more ambitious goal. After seeing the numbers swell to over 165,000 in 2016-17, communications minister Yang Xinzheng announced last year that the government expects to see 600,000 fully electric buses on China’s streets by 2020.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), around 17 percent of China’s entire bus fleet was electric as of 2017. That’s about 99 percent of the 385,000 electric buses operating around the world.

Every five weeks, Chinese cities including Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chongqing swap out more of their gas-fueled buses for their electronic counterparts, and across the whole country, this accounts for an additional 9,500 electric buses every five weeks. This is larger than London’s current bus fleet, which is just over 8,000 buses, and is a trend that saves up to 4,750 barrels of diesel fuel from being consumed each day.

China now has several companies carrying out its plan to electrify the country’s bus fleets, including BYD. That company has built some 35,000 electric buses so far, and it now has the capacity to produce up to 15,000 a year, the company’s managing director Isbrand Ho told Bloomberg.

BYD is expanding globally as well. It now has an assembly factory in California, making its buses available to cities across the United States. Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Baton Rouge, and Columbia, Missouri, have all ordered electric buses from BYD in the past two years.