Taipei is set to introduce a “U-Car” electric car-sharing rental system, and has invited other cities and counties in north Taiwan, including Keelung and New Taipei City, to participate, extending the “rent from A, return at B” concept. New Taipei City is, for the moment, holding back on the idea: the city government plans to wait until a joint Taipei forum in March to discuss the details more with Taipei City Government.
The electric car industry still has a way to go, with electric cars not yet widely used, and the introduction of this scheme now could lead to parking spaces lying idle. There are currently 80 inside parking lots in New Taipei City, fitted with 182 charging stations, provided for paid parking and free battery charging, but they are not fully used. According to the law, it is not possible to allocate specific parking spaces in public parking lots to specific individuals, so providing these spaces to operators for commercial purposes would give rise to legal questions. No such restrictions apply to private parking spaces, however.
In addition, as U-Cars will be rented out to individuals, the scheme will be of little help in easing congestion and, given the number of taxis already on the streets of Taipei and New Taipei City, it is unclear what the purpose of introducing the scheme at this point would be.
Photo: Ho Yu-hua, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者何玉華
Another issue is adequate distribution of charging stations: the larger the area, the more serious the problem of battery life becomes.
(Liberty Times, translated by Paul Cooper)
台北市將啟動「U Car」電動汽車共享出租系統,擬邀基隆、新北等北台縣市一起打造「U Car」生活圈,將「甲地借乙地還」概念擴大至北部生活圈,不過,新北市態度保留,傾向不參與,市府計畫在三月雙北論壇中,與北市再進一步溝通細節。
電動車產業還不成氣候,民眾使用不普及,可能造成車位閒置。新北市目前有八十個室內停車場、已設置一八二個充電座,提供收費停車、免費充電,但使用率不高;此外,公有停車場依法不可指定車位給特定人使用,若提供給業者、且有營利行為,則將有法律疑慮,反倒是民間私有停車場不受此限制。
還有,U Car 仍屬私人運具,對道路交通流量的紓解幫助有限,而且雙北市計程車業發達,民眾是否有必要自己開車?另一方面,充電座的分布要足夠,因為區域越大,電池續航力的問題越重要。
(自由時報)
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