Electric vehicles (EV) are expected to hit the roads in Taipei by the end of the year, when the government will launch a pilot EV driving project to allow people to rent EVs to tour the city.
Tu Chih-chun, director general of the Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said that Carplus Auto Leasing Corp., an affiliate of the Yulon Group, has worked out a “Rent-an-EV to tour Taipei” program in line with the pilot project, in a bid to cash in on the great car-leasing opportunities expected after the government liberalizes individual trips for mainland Chinese tourists.
Under the program, Carplus will initially make 80 Tobe M’cars and 20 Luxgen electric cars available for rental and will set up counters at Taipei Main Station, Taipei Bus Station and Songshan Airport to offer a “rent EVs at Place A and return them at Place B” service.
Carplus officials said that the cost of daily rental for EVs will be 10-20 percent lower than that for general sedans. At the moment, the daily rental for a 1,600 cc car is set at NT$2,000 at least.
To solve the battery charging problem, Carplus and Yulon will set up 58 battery charging stations in Taipei, which will eventually be expanded to 92. The stations will be established beside major gas stations as well as at major tourist areas such as Ximending, Longshan Temple, Tienmu, the Miramar, Danshui, etc.
Meanwhile, Yulon-Nissan Automobile is also planning to lease 90 LEAF electric cars and 10 seven-seat Luxgen electric vehicles to the Taichung City Government to serve as police patrol vehicles, environmental protection investigation cars, as well as shuttle vehicles among the three administration centers of the city government.
Both Carplus and Yulon-Nissan hope the government will subsidize their electric car leasing programs by about NT$100 million each. The Carplus leasing program is budgeted at NT$270 million and Yulon-Nissan at NT$200 million.
