The green and red cabs that had been servicing the city for decades had all been replaced by electricity-powered cab as 2018 came to an end Monday.
As of New Year’s Day, 22,000 e-cabs had completely replaced fuel-powered ones, marking the city’s entry into the e-cab era, sources from the city’s transport commission said.
Shenzhen was chosen as one of 13 cities in the country to pilot new-energy vehicle public transport by the ministries of transport and finance. Shenzhen started replacing fuel-powered cabs in 2010. In 2017, the city unveiled an air control plan for 2017-2020, requiring all new cabs to be electricity-powered and all cabs to be replaced by e-cabs by the end of 2020.
According to the commission, the e-cabs will help reduce emissions by 856,000 tons a year, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide absorption of six Mt. Wutong Scenery Parks. The e-cabs can save 69.5 percent of the energy used by fuel-powered cabs, equivalent to 323,000 tons of standard coal, or 226,000 tons of fuel.
The introduction of e-cabs also reduces the costs for operators and riders. The operation cost for a fuel-powered cab is 77.55 yuan (US$11.24) per 100 kilometers, while the operation cost of an e-cab, depending on the electricity cost during peak and off-peak periods, is 25.3 yuan and 19.8 yuan per 100 kilometers, respectively.
Correspondingly, the monthly management fees that cabbies need to pay their operating companies will also be reduced. Riders no longer need to pay the 1 to 3-yuan fuel surcharges.