HK taxi drivers not keen to go electric unless they can swap batteries
發佈日期: 2026-04-18 22:12
TVB News
Even as the government encourages local taxis to go electric, the number of such vehicles on the road remain low.
Many cab drivers say the lack of enough fast-charging points put them off. Some industry players are calling for a shift to battery-swapping, hoping to encourage more taxi drivers to switch to electric vehicles.
Have you ever seen or caught an electric taxi? There are a total of 17,000 licensed taxis in Hong Kong, and fewer than 1,200 are electric. In other words, only one in every 15 taxis or so are electric.
Chau Kwok-keung, chairman of the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Light Bus Association pointed out that many taxi drivers are still reluctant to switch, even though the conflict in the Middle East has caused LPG prices to soar.
One of the reasons he said is that most of the fast-charging facilities are not in urban areas.
Since many drivers rent their taxis, spending time to charge means earning less. To address the issue, a new energy group partnered with the mainland car brand "HongQi" to introduce the first "battery-swapping" taxi in Hong Kong.
No real waiting and queuing here -- simply changing out depleted batteries for fresh, recharged ones.
Tommy Yip, managing director of the energy company said battery-swapping have some big advantages, with the most obvious being far less time to swap a battery when compared to recharging a battery.
He said swapping takes only 90 seconds, while charging takes at least 15 to 20 minutes. Drivers can make use of the time for more orders.
The group is going to set up at least 14 battery swap stations, but only the Fanling and Tsing Yi ones are ready. The others are stuck at the planning stages.
Jeffrey Cheng, managing director of the energy company said "We have considered many locations, but due to land-use planning restrictions, it may not be easy to build swap stations."
Meanwhile, the government aims to have 3,000 electric taxis next year.
It stated it has established an inter-departmental working group to update guidelines for the charging facilities within this year, and assist operators in advancing projects as quickly as possible.
