It's Electric: Pinggu Doubles Electric Taxi Fleet

Way out east, in the Beijing suburb of Pinggu, the traffic noises (although probably not the honking) died down a little last week as 50 additional electric taxis hit the roads.

The taxis can travel up to 160 kilometers per six hours of charge. A 30 minute mini-charge gives them 110 km.
All electric taxi drivers work an insane shift from 6am to 10pm every day. Unlike Beijing proper, the initial rate is RMB 8 within 3 km, and an additional RMB 2 per kilometer beyond that.

No word yet on when we might expect to hail an electric taxi within a ring road.

Photo: China Daily