Premier Mao Chi-kuo says he believes that electric scooters are the future for Taiwan. He was speaking during a visit to the China Motor Corporation on Wednesday.
Taiwan has about 14 million scooters, which are a major source of pollution. Premier Mao said that switching to electric scooters would be an effective way to lessen Taiwan’s net carbon emissions.
"In Taiwan, there is an imminent war to declare against carbon emissions, Premier Mao said. "We should have solutions for lessening carbon emissions in various sectors. We hope we can promote this. Also, once we are doing well in the domestic market, the next step would be exports. I believe that we have the ability and persuasiveness to export scooters."
The premier said that electric scooters are improving quickly. He believes that in order to make them more marketable, scooters and batteries should be sold separately. That way electric scooters will cost about the same as regular scooters, and customers can compare the price of batteries to gas prices.
80cc electric scooters have been selling well, but the premier said that the next step needs to building 125cc electric scooters.