Electric vehicle revolution to slash travel costs in global cities: report

GENEVA, Feb. 15 — Electrified autonomous vehicles will
revolutionize urban mobility by reducing travel costs by up to 40 percent
and cut down CO2 marginal emissions to zero, a World Economic Forum (WEF)
report said Tuesday.

The WEF’s report, titled “Electric Vehicles for Smarter Cities: The Future
of Energy and Mobility”, said autonomous and shared mobility,
digitalization and decentralization of energy systems require new
approaches to electric mobility. The report says the generation of new
jobs, combined with resulting improvements in air quality, will benefit
human health and could result in up to 635 billion U.S. dollars of value
creation for society by 2030. “The convergence of mobility and energy
strategies can magnify the economic and social benefits of electric
mobility in cities, and ensure increased sustainability, reliability and
customer choice,” said Roberto Bocca, head of Energy and Basic Industries,
and a WEF executive committee member.

The WEF report cites examples of world cities where vehicle electrification
is proceeding with government and business backing. In Guangzhou, China’s
third biggest city plans to speed up bus electrification and aims to reach
200,000 new units in 2018, notes the report. China’s government has also
announced it will develop national regulations for testing AV on public
roads in cities across the country. Also, in China, the Hong Kong local
government encourages developers to scale-up the electric vehicles charging
infrastructure. This includes solutions integrated with the smart payment
system, Octopus, which is also used to access the public transport network
said the report.

In the British capital, the Transport for London office requires all new
black (metered) cabs to be electric or emission-free, and diesel vehicles
will not be permitted in London by 2032. On the U.S. west coast, the Los
Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has decided to switch 260 fleet vehicles
to electric vehicles. By leasing rather than buying vehicles, the LAPD can
invest in charging stations, including fast-charging stations in city
center car parks. – XINHUA