340 electric buses vs 70… buses & coaches
Let’s juggle with figures: in 2016 China was able to register 340 electric city buses every single day. In the same year 2016, Europe put about 70 buses on the road each day, regardless of the category (urban, intercity, coaches) and the kind of fuel. In this epochal change toward electric buses adoption, Europe and United States still have the role of background actors. The movie takes places almost entirely within the Great Wall. At least: until now.
Electric bus, 17 percent China circulating buses
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, today there are 3 million city buses in operation worldwide; of these, 385,000 are electric (in 2017). The incidence on the global fleet is therefore 13 per cent. However, this figure is misleading. In fact, almost all of the vehicles operate in China. Therefore, it would be more correct to say that in China the share of electric buses on the circulating city buses is already 17%. Elsewhere, we are still dealing with decimals.
90,000 electric buses registered in China in 2017
In China sales rose from 69 thousand units in 2015 to 132 thousand in 2016; 2017 marked a significant step backwards, following the reduction in subsidies: 90 thousand full electric buses and 16 thousand hybrid plug-in buses have been registered. The plans for electrification of Chinese public transport are quite ambitious. To give some known examples, the city of Shenzhen by the end of 2017 had committed to reach 100 per 100 of electric buses in operation (16,500 buses), Beijing aims at the goal of 10,000 by 2020, starting from 1,320 last year.
