Shenzen reaches electric bus milestone

The world’s first major city to have an entirely electric bus fleet is Shenzhen in China, which has about 16,000 electrics.

The city’s taxi fleet is also moving to electric, with more than 12,000 (62.5%) of them switched over and the rest expected to follow by 2020.

About 510 charging stations with 8000 charging poles have been built to service the e-buses. The buses can be fully charged in two hours.

Nearly all bus routes have charging stations.

National and local government subsidies have aided public transport firms in making the switch, and some operators have leased buses from manufacturers to reduce costs.

Shenzen has an electric bus type with 250km range from a five-hour charge, allowing nearly a full day’s operation.

Carbon dioxide emissions in the city could be lowered by about 48% using electric buses instead of diesel. The move to electric buses is underway in other cities around the world like London and New York.

London is aiming for emission free single-deck buses by 2020 and for all double-decks to be hybrid by 2019, while New York intends having all its bus fleet electric by 2040.