Chinese carmaker BYD has introduced 34 electrically powered taxis to Brussels to operate an e-fleet on behalf of the Belgium Government.The vehicles are the first tranche of a 50-strong fleet and will replace petrol and diesel powered taxis. The e6 taxis are not the first in Europe, a small fleet six have been used by the Rotterdam Taxi Company for more than one year, while a fleet of 20 has been working in London since early 2014.
In China 850 BYD e6 taxis are in service in the city of Shenzhen, headquarters for BYD, with a further fleet of 45 operating in Hong Kong. Together these taxis have accumulated more than 200 millions of kilometres of service.
The company says it takes two hours to fully charge the e6 using the fast AC charging solution developed by BYD, giving the car a range up to 300km.
As well as with its pure electric taxis, BYD is rolling out the introduction of a range of ebuses in a large number of major global cities – more than 36 in Europe have already trialled the BYD ebus.
BYD is the world's largest producer of rechargeable automotive batteries.
