The northeastern Chinese port of Dalian will convert its buses, taxis and private carpools in urban areas to environmentally friendly vehicles over the next few years.
The operators of public transport will replace all gasoline-powered vehicles in their four neighborhoods by renewable-powered vehicles (NEVs) by 2020, the city government said. In other districts NEVs should make up at least 10 percent of the bus fleet by 2020. From the same year, at least half of the newly acquired buses should be powered by new energy.
Not only buses are part of the city council’s green plan. Also from 2020, all newly purchased taxis and private carpools in the four districts will be powered by clean energy vehicles. The city government demands that by 2025 all of these vehicles are NEVs.
In addition, the government pledged to speed up the construction of hydrogen refueling stations and charging stations for electric vehicles.
To alleviate pressure on the environment, China has promoted the use of renewable energy-powered vehicles through tax exemptions and purchase subsidies. The country has been the largest NEV market in the world for three consecutive years, with 777,000 NEVs sold in 2017 alone.
