New license plates starting with the letter “E” are to be issued for electric scooters starting next year to allow easier recognition, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said on Friday, adding that plates that have numbers with cultural significance would be available through a bidding process for all scooters except the smallest models.
The purpose for issuing new plates is to comply with regulations for “smart” vehicles, Motor Vehicle Division Deputy Chief Lin Yi-sheng (林義勝) said.
Beginning the plate numbers with the letter “E” — for “electric” — would permit all agencies to easily distinguish electric-powered scooters from gasoline-powered ones, Lin said.
Photo: CNA, provided by the Directorate General of Highways
Aside from the plate sequence starting with an “E” followed by two English letters and four numbers, the plates’ color, material, anti-forgery seal and fonts are to be identical to the plates for gasoline-powered scooters, Lin said, adding that the new plates would have the words “electricity-powered vehicle” in Chinese at the top.
Conventional plates have been issued for 107,833 electric scooters, of which 58,746 are small light scooters — those with a top speed under 45kph — and 47,676 are regular scooters — those with between 1.34 and 5 horsepower (hp) and a top speed above 45kph, Lin said.
It is not mandatory that new plates be issued next year for those with conventional plates, Lin said.
If scooter owners want the new plates, they must pay NT$300 in handling fees, while those who own large scooters — those with more than 54hp — must pay NT$400.
Using the number of new plates issued last month as a reference, the office is looking to issue 100,000 plates next year, Lin said.
Plates with “lucky” license numbers — with four 6s, four 8s or four 9s — are to be put up for bidding, the ministry said.
The character ba (八) — the number eight in Mandarin — sounds similar to fa (發, “prosperity”) and is therefore considered lucky. Double sixes are considered to indicate that a person is about to have a smooth deal, while one can never go wrong by having two double sixes.
The license plates issued for electric-powered cars, bordered in green on the top and bottom, will not be issued once they have run out, the ministry said.
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