Taiwan last year electrified 25 percent of public buses serving urban areas, a milestone on the path to Taiwan achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The push to make public buses electric was part of a NT$64.3 billion (US$1.96 billion) plan launched in 2023 to electrify buses, the ministry wrote in a report to the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
The project’s aim is to subsidize commercial bus operators to add 14,500 electric vehicles (EV) to their fleets to replace diesel-powered buses or as new purchases by 2030, it said.
Photo: CNA
As of November, the ministry has provided funding for 2,080 urban electric buses, of which 1,926 have been operationally certified, achieving last year’s target, the ministry said.
Officials installed 10,086 public charging points consisting of 7,681 slow-charging points and 2,405 fast-charging points to serve 92,166 private EVs, it said.
That means Taiwan reached the EU’s recommendation of 9.1 charging points for every privately owned EV, it said.
The nation has 23 fast-charging stations at 15 freeway service areas and one rest area, which have combined capacity to recharge 154 vehicles simultaneously, the ministry said.
A carbon footprint labeling program for enterprises in the logistics and transportation sectors that started last year provided eight classes and 21 conferences, it said.
A separate trial run with different training courses and guidance services for operators is to start this year and be expanded in the following years, it said.
Taiwan is planning to import sustainable aviation fuel for commercial airplanes and begin domestic production next year, the ministry said.
Sustainable fuel is derived from recycled biological materials.
The fuel later this year would be introduced to domestic airlines accessing Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the ministry said.
By 2030, sustainable fuels should comprise 5 percent of total domestic aviation fuel consumption, if all goes according to plan, it said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said in the report that it has established national standards to certify sustainable aviation fuel.
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) is tasked with producing aviation-grade biofuel for long-term use, it said.
Taiwan should aim to substitute 10 percent of its aviation fuel consumption with biofuel, the National Science and Technology Council said.
Taoyuan airport consumes 3 million kiloliters of aviation fuel a year, it added.
Last year, the government cut emissions at airports by supplying power and air-conditioning to parked airplanes via air bridges, adding solar panels and supplying ground crew with EVs, it said.
Taoyuan airport replaced 35.7 percent of its ground support vehicles and installed 43 charging points for their use, the ministry said.
Taoyuan airport plans to increase the number of charging points to 70 by 2027, it said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS