56% Reduction Anticipated in Hong Kong Vehicle Emissions Through Electrified Public Transportation - MarketWatch
Some interesting calculations are presented:
HONG KONG, Mar 20, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- BYD Company Ltd. announced solutions for electrifying Hong Kong City's public transport with plans to replace diesel buses and LPG taxis. Experts anticipate that this will reduce Hong Kong's vehicle emissions nearly 56% (1) (see note). BYD concurrently unveiled its plan to introduce e6 pure electric taxis in the region in May of this year. Chuan-fu Wang, Chairman and President of BYD Company Limited, remarked, "Hong Kong has been dedicated to promoting green transport for quite some time - electrifying public transportation will not only significantly save costs, but it will also dramatically lower the city vehicle emissions and improve air quality, creating a tremendous social impact!" The first fleet of 45, BYD e6 pure electric taxis are scheduled for launch in Hong Kong in May of this year. Meanwhile, BYD and multiple partners have already built and tested three charging stations in Oi Man Estate, Shek Wai Kok Estate and Wong Tai Sin. The second batch of charging stations is expected to be set up before May with the expectation that each taxi will be complemented by a charging appliance. BYD is also collaborating with local industry partners to pursue further developments in electrified public transport for Hong Kong (including BYD 40-foot electric buses).
Public transport is one of the major sources of air pollution in cities. Replacing the eighteen-thousand (18,000) LPG taxis and twelve-thousand (12,000) diesel buses with electric taxis and buses would mean a reduction in emissions equivalent to over eight-hundred-thousand (800,000) private cars,(1) a leap towards an ultimate target: low-city-noise, zero emissions and zero pollution. Electrified public transport is one of the most important ways to reduce vehicle emissions and improve roadside air pollution. In addition, given the difference in price between fossil fuels and electricity, electric transport can also help the transport industry save costs. For instance, each BYD e6 pure electric taxi is capable of saving approx. one-hundred-ten-thousand HKD (110,000HKD) annually in operating costs.
Some interesting calculations are presented:
Note 1:
BYD estimates that emissions from a taxi are equivalent to the sum of those from 14 private cars, while emissions from a single-deck bus are equivalent to those from 33 private cars and emissions from a double-decker bus are equivalent to those from 57 private cars. The total emissions of the 18,133 taxis, 7,150 single-deck buses and 5,564 double-decker buses in Hong Kong are therefore equivalent to the sum of those from over 800,000 private cars. Of the total emissions from the 650,000 vehicles on Hong Kong's roads, about 56% comes from single-deck buses, double-decker buses and taxis combined. Hence, eliminating all emissions from these fossil fueled vehicles would represent a corresponding 56% reduction in the total emissions from all vehicles.
Appendix 1:
Since there is substantial price differential between LPG and electricity, the operating costs of an LPG-fuelled taxi and an electric taxi are significantly different. On average, a taxi in Hong Kong runs 500 km a day for 353 days a year (taxis take one day for maintenance every month). The calculation shows that a normal LPG taxi consumes 17L of natural gas for every 100km, and that an e6 pure electric taxi consumes 26kWh for every 100km. With reference to the LPG cost of HKD 5/L and the electricity cost of HKD 1.02/kWh, each electric taxi saves HKD 318 per day, or approximately HKD110 thousand a year, on operating costs.
