Taiwan last year electrified 25 percent of public buses serving urban areas, a milestone on the path to Taiwan achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The push to make public buses electric was part of a NT$64.3 billion (US$1.96 billion) plan launched in 2023 to electrify buses, the ministry wrote in a report to the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
The project’s aim is to subsidize commercial bus operators to add 14,500 electric vehicles (EV) to their fleets to replace diesel-powered buses or as new purchases by 2030, it said.
Photo: CNA
As of November, the ministry has provided funding for 2,080 urban electric buses, of which 1,926 have been operationally certified, achieving last year’s target, the ministry said.
Officials installed 10,086 public charging points consisting of 7,681 slow-charging points and 2,405 fast-charging points to serve 92,166 private EVs, it said.
That means Taiwan reached the EU’s recommendation of 9.1 charging points for every privately owned EV, it said.
The nation has 23 fast-charging stations at 15 freeway service areas and one rest area, which have combined capacity to recharge 154 vehicles simultaneously, the ministry said.
A carbon footprint labeling program for enterprises in the logistics and transportation sectors that started last year provided eight classes and 21 conferences, it said.
A separate trial run with different training courses and guidance services for operators is to start this year and be expanded in the following years, it said.
Taiwan is planning to import sustainable aviation fuel for commercial airplanes and begin domestic production next year, the ministry said.
Sustainable fuel is derived from recycled biological materials.
The fuel later this year would be introduced to domestic airlines accessing Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the ministry said.
By 2030, sustainable fuels should comprise 5 percent of total domestic aviation fuel consumption, if all goes according to plan, it said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said in the report that it has established national standards to certify sustainable aviation fuel.
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) is tasked with producing aviation-grade biofuel for long-term use, it said.
Taiwan should aim to substitute 10 percent of its aviation fuel consumption with biofuel, the National Science and Technology Council said.
Taoyuan airport consumes 3 million kiloliters of aviation fuel a year, it added.
Last year, the government cut emissions at airports by supplying power and air-conditioning to parked airplanes via air bridges, adding solar panels and supplying ground crew with EVs, it said.
Taoyuan airport replaced 35.7 percent of its ground support vehicles and installed 43 charging points for their use, the ministry said.
Taoyuan airport plans to increase the number of charging points to 70 by 2027, it said.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS