600 New Electric Taxis for China

As the automotive industry grows bigger, state authorities are trying to make China a cleaner country and one of the first steps done in this regard is the introduction of electric taxis. Several cities have already adopted electric fleets of taxis and, according to a report by Shanghai Securities News, Zhejiang province's capital city of Hangzhou will do the same in the course of this year.

A total of 600 electric cars will be delivered this year, the source noted while also adding that the vehicles are manufactured by Zotye Automobile International and FAW Haima Automobile. The first batch of 30 units will be delivered this month, while the remaining units will be handed to local authorities later this year.

All painted in yellow, the taxis have an autonomy of up to 80 kilometers per charge, so their use will be only limited to urban areas. At this point, there are only three charging stations for electric taxis in the local area, but six other charging points will be added later this year.

China is no stranger to the electric taxi concept, as several companies have already presented their prototypes to state authorities. The ZAP Taxi for example was unveiled in April 2010 and had several advantages over the ones rolled out today in Hangzhou: not only that they could cover 300 kilometers per charge, but they were also capable of speeds up to 113 km/h (70 mph).

“Not only will the ZAP Taxi carry 5 passengers, it has considerable luggage space and can be operated for less than .12 RMB per kilometer ($0.03 cents per mile) based on current electricity costs in China. This will provide any fleet user with a competitive edge in typical urban usage," said Steve Schneider, ZAP CEO, back in April 2010.