The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal to have 9,400 diesel-powered city buses across the nation replaced by electric buses by 2030 at a cost of NT$64.3 billion (US$2.09 billion).
The plan proposed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is part of the government’s efforts to reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
City bus operators have been reluctant to procure electric buses because of their relatively poor performance, high price, scarcity of charging facilities, lack of logistics and maintenance services, and failure to implement localization of key technologies and components, the ministry said in a statement following yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
After formulating new strategies and timelines to achieve the net zero goal, a three-year pilot project of electric buses was launched in 2020 through the efforts of the ministry, the Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, it said.
From 2020 to last year, 500 electric vehicles were designed, developed and produced by Taiwanese manufacturers for use by domestic operators, the transportation ministry said.
Taiwan has two electric bus manufacturers — RAC Electric Vehicle and Master Transportation Electric Bus — that have met localization requirements and begun mass production, it said.
Four other manufacturers are trying to meet localization requirements for electric buses, it said.
In the next seven years, the government would begin promoting the use of electric buses, the transportation ministry said.
“The nation still has about 9,400 diesel-powered buses to be replaced by electric buses by 2030,” it said. “To ensure sufficient funding for the project, we worked with the Environmental Protection Administration to jointly submit a plan to promote the use of electric buses from next year to 2030.”
Apart from vehicle purchase subsidies for bus operators, the plan also includes funds to establish maintenance systems, passenger transport operation subsidies and road network optimization, it said.
In the “Taiwan’s Net Zero Emissions Path and Strategy by 2050,” which was announced in March, 12 key strategies were proposed, one of which is electrification and decarbonization of public transportation and giving priority to passenger vehicles with mature technologies, it said.
“With the development of technology, other vehicles would be electrified or carbon-free, so the full electrification of city buses by 2030 would be significant,” it said. “It is also an important step for net zero emissions in 2050.”
The development of electric buses would also create manufacturing jobs and make Taiwan part of the international electric vehicle supply chain, it added.
To meet the goal of electrifying the entire nation’s fleet of city buses within seven years, about 1,300 buses would need to be replaced annually, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said.
“It is a government-wide effort to reach emissions goals. We are subsidizing the industry, and we are also asking local governments to assist bus operators and promote the electrification of their local fleets,” Chen said.
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