New-energy taxis to see massive increase

Beijing Electric Vehicle Co says that it expects to see a more than 160-fold increase in its sales of new-energy powered taxis and ride-hailing cars in the next five years, attaining a firm foothold in the country's booming new-energy vehicle market.

Zhang Yong, general manager of the company － the NEV arm of State-owned automaker Beijing Automotive Industry Corp, said the company plans to launch 500,000 NEVs for the taxi and ride-sharing sectors in 1,000 cities by 2022.

"We will invest 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) and build 3,000 solar-powered charging stations for new-energy taxis, which will reduce carbon emissions by 8.5 million metric tons, equivalent to planting 31 million trees," Zhang said at a news conference held on Friday.

"Currently we have put more than 3,000 new-energy taxis in the streets of Beijing, Xiamen and Lanzhou and the EU260 taxis were used at the Ninth BRICS Summit held in Xiamen this year," Zhang added.

The charging stations, developed by the company, Shanghai-based Aulton New Energy Automotive Technology Co Ltd and Shanghai Dianba New Energy Technology Co Ltd, have shortened charging times for new-energy taxis to less than three minutes, making charging for NEVs as convenient as fossil fuel cars.

According to Li Yixiu, BAIC BJEV's head of marketing, the company's sales of NEVs is expected to reach 100,000 this year, almost doubling the amount from 2016.