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I live in Shanghai and already have an electric vehicle ... it just isn't a car. I would estimate that almost 20% of the population already has electric scooter
by adinobro 8y ago
I live in Shanghai and already have an electric vehicle ... it just isn't a car. I would estimate that almost 20% of the population already has electric scooters.
That being said I doubt they will get rid of them because that isn't really the way China works. For taxis, you really need an ICE at the moment. For delivery vehicle not so much. Every delivery vehicle that I've seen in cities is electric. The trucks between cities aren't but lots of the intercity deliveries are by train (some is electric some isn't).
One thing to be aware of is that China generally has tough laws that are not well enforced. This is by design. They don't have to change the law they just need to enforce it more strictly.
What generally happens is that the laws are introduced into the top tier cities and then slowly out to other cities over time. What they have been doing is increasing the emission requirements. This is to bring down pollution. We had an old jeep that we rented that had to be tested every 6 months because of its age. There was a loophole that let us pass the test. It cost a little bit more but we could drive it. The government knew about the loophole and let it exist for a few years then closed it. You knew it was coming just not when. I think the jeep was moved into the country or sold for scrap.
The emission requirements will just keep slowly going up. There will be way around the requirements (which they are aware of) but they will slowly make it harder and harder. If you really want an ICE it will still be possible but when you go for a new car it will just be less effort and easier to get electric.
This is why I have an electric moped. I could get a petrol one which would technically be illegal but it is just so much easier to get electric.
- reaperducer 8y agoFor taxis, you really need an ICE at the moment. For delivery vehicle not so much. Every delivery vehicle that I've seen in cities is electric. Very interesting. Where I am in North America, nearly every taxi is electric, and I think I’ve seen two electric delivery vehicles in the last five years. I wonder why our transportation is so very opposite.
- macintux 8y ago> Where I am in North America, nearly every taxi is electric May I inquire where? To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never seen one. Maybe Uber/Lyft around here you’d see a few, but never a taxi.
- hectormalot 8y agoNot in NA, but most taxis at Schiphol (Amsterdam airport) are either Tesla’s or Hyundai Ioniqs. Spoke to a driver about it once and the Tesla’s rarely do more than a single charge in day.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoDo you mean priuses? Those are actually hybrids, and they dominate the taxi/Uber market in the USA ATM.
- adinobro 8y agoMost local delivery is done using scooters (cheep) not cars(expensive). There is so much online shopping that distribution centers are roughly every 10km so you go back to base get a load and a new battery. Same for food. The difference is there isn't really a car charging network here like in the US. Most of the charging here is just using normal sockets or at home. I charge my batteries overnight twice a week. There are a number of charging points in the public garage but it is still slow charging. So not good enough for a taxi going all over the city but good enough for delivery.
- Markoff 8y agoit's because he call electric tricycles vehicles, pretty much 95% of delivery vehicles in Chiba are electric tricycles, same go for dump trucks in bigger cities, they just don't user big vehicles (trucks/vans) but tricycles
- dorfsmay 8y agoWhere are you? Do you mean hybrid? Or really electric? Which brand, models do taxi use?
- ximeng 8y agoLast taxi ride in Shenzhen I took was in an electric car.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoBeijing already had more than a few EV taxis (BYD) in 2016, I heard Shenzhen was much more aggressive on this front. As far as charge times; these are taxi drivers who hangout a couple of hours at the airport for just one fare back, they probably queue up for chargers also.
- baybal2 8y agoAround three quarters, and all busses are electric. The need for long charge time is not that big of an issues as drivers still have to do mandatory breaks, and show up at depots for cleaning at least once a day.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoIt doesn’t matter at all really, China isn’t exactly known for the productivity of their bus and taxi drivers. Productivity is often a distant secondary concern for service type jobs.
- baybal2 8y agoMan, you lived in Beijing
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoYou’ll find taxi drivers chilling even in shanghai if it isn’t rush hour. Not to mention airport taxi queues, even when you can barely get a taxi st the airport, drivers are waiting 2+ hours to get through it. The authorities hardly consider their time important.
- baybal2 8y agoBoth cities are such a chill place. I've been to both. Before Shenzhen, I worked in Shanghai on a half a year contract to bring a small webdev and marketing consultancy shop back from the dead after loss of a CTO. But the moment I stepped out of the plane in Shenzhen, I felt it almost physically that the air there is different: public transport that runs like a clockwork, exemplary public sanitation, police in subway that actually does its job, all public services being largely well run, and ..... the most unchinese thing possible ... traffic laws actually being enforced, and very zealously at that