[BBC] In the 2010s, China rolled out a rapid and widespread electric bus network. Today, China's electric buses are influencing not just the country's EV uptake, but the world's.
There are two distinctive types of electric buses making their way along Nanjing Xi Lu, one of Shanghai's busiest roads.
The first is a fleet of blue trolleybuses that serve bus route number 20, a line set up by a British-run transport company in 1928. They use poles on their roofs to receive electricity from wires overhead and have kept the route running in this way for nearly a century.
But while the historic trolleybuses are a reminder of Europe's past technological innovation, the new buses swooshing alongside them are symbols of China's contemporary net-zero ambition.
These sleek and modern electric buses, powered by lithium batteries not wires, were rolled out in Shanghai in their thousands beginning in 2014. Compared to the once ubiquitous diesel-fuelled buses, which made loud "vroom-vroom" engine sounds and belched out black smoke from their tailpipes, the e-buses dominating Shanghai's streets today are quiet, smoke-free and stylish to look at. They also drive smoothly, particularly when they start and stop.
These sleek buses are now ubiquitous across much of China, but their status as a green transport icon was not always assured. As they shuttle back and forth along their bustling daily routes, these vehicles are having a profound influence on not just China's rapid EV transition, but the world's.
.... The most recent data available shows that China in 2018 was still the second largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the global transport sector, responsible for 11%, and behind only the United States, which accounted for 21%. However, in order to help reduce transport emissions around the world, the International Energy Agency has called for policies to encourage public transport and electric vehicles – and China's e-bus roll out is helping achieve both.
After around two decades of government support, China now boasts the world's largest market for e-buses, making up more than 95% of global stock. At the end of 2022, China's Ministry of Transport announced that more than three-quarters (77% or 542,600) of all urban buses in the country were "new energy vehicles", a term used by the Chinese government to include pure electric, plug-in hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles powered by alternative fuels such as hydrogen and methanol. In 2022, around 84% of the new energy bus fleet was pure electric.
The speed of this transition was remarkable. In 2015, 78% of Chinese urban buses still used diesel or gas, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI). The NGO now estimates that if China follows through on its stated decarbonisation policies, its road transport emissions will peak before 2030.
China is also home to some of the world's biggest electric bus manufacturers, such as Yutong, which has been raking up orders across China, Europe and Latin America.
| Additional BBC fawning at the link, followed by the reality checks: natural resource limitations to manufacturing (nickel and lithium), harsh winters in the north of the country means batteries don’t hold a charge long enough, and China’s electricity being provided by soft-coal burning power plants means air pollution is still released, just not by diesel tailpipes. |
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