A new fleet of Chinese-build electric taxis will hit Sydney streets in coming months with the initial fleet of 115 vehicles based in the Northern Beaches council area on a six-month trial. The taxis, produced by BYD, the worlds biggest EV company, are being imported and distributed in partnership with local company Nexport with a goal to have 2000 taxis on Australian roads by the end of next year. The partnership already has electric buses running at Sydney and Brisbane airports and intends to also expand into electric trucks next year.  The taxis, as used by the world’s largest EV taxi fleet of 20,000 vehicles in China’s city of Shenzhen, have a passenger cabin design that enables them to be used with social distancing rules – separate sections divide the driver from the front passenger as well as the two rear passengers. The importer hoping the EV taxi move will see charging infrastructure companies increase the coverage of stations for public charging of EVs.

I’m David Berthon

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