The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board should work with other government agencies to address safety issues caused by electric vehicles equipped with battery cells made in China, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) told a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday.
The committee was scheduled to review the board’s budget plan for the next fiscal year, but Chen told board chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) that he was concerned about safety issues raised after seven electric buses were destroyed when a fire broke out at a Taoyuan Bus Co maintenance station on March 9.
An investigation by the Taoyuan Fire Department showed that the fire started in a charging port at the maintenance station.
RAC Electric Vehicles, which manufactures electric buses for the company and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, said that the batteries were made in China, Chen said.
RAC is one of two local companies qualified to participate in an electric bus pilot project launched by the ministry last year.
Chen showed committee members a photograph of the buses destroyed in the blaze.
The buses had used lithium batteries made by Shenzhen-based Winston Battery.
While the government aims to develop the electric bus industry, its main challenge is that Taiwan continues to use battery cells made in China, Chen added.
Rules governing the distribution of government subsidies for purchases of electric buses only require that the battery packs be produced domestically, but the rules do not cover the cells inside the battery packs, he said.
“A safe battery cell is the foundation of a lithium battery. It is impossible for Taiwan to develop the electric vehicle industry if it does not have the ability to produce its own battery cells, or if China controls the technology to produce them,” Chen said.
“A lithium battery accounts for 40 percent of the manufacturing costs of an electric vehicle. If we continue to pursue development in this direction, we are letting China take advantage of us and hurting our own businesses,” he added.
“I am not saying that we cannot buy parts and components from China, but they should be safe to use,” Chen said.
Across the nation, 750 electric buses have been installed with China-made battery cells, Chen said, adding that the safety risks would only multiply over the next four years as more bus companies are scheduled to receive subsidies to purchase electric buses as part of the government’s green energy policy.
Board members should work with members of the Executive Yuan’s Board of Science and Technology, as well as other agency officials, to manage the safety risks and protect the nation’s interests, Chen said.
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