Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Hong Kong must prioritise EV charging facilities as sales soar, panel hears

Hong Kong must prioritise EV charging facilities as sales soar, panel hears

Hong Kong needs to inject greater urgency into efforts to develop electric-vehicle charging infrastructure to keep up with soaring sales and meet its 2050 carbon-neutrality goal.
Hong Kong needs to inject greater urgency into efforts to develop electric-vehicle (EV) infrastructure to keep up with soaring sales and meet its 2050 carbon-neutrality goal.

While the government has dangled some carrots to encourage the private sector drive towards electrification, auto sector executives foresee bottlenecks stalling progress.

“How to cope with the slowly growing infrastructure with the fast growing sales [of electric cars] is one of the issues that we need the government to keep on top of discussing with the industry,” said Joe Lam, deputy general manager of retail services at Inchcape Hong Kong.

There are currently over 30,000 EVs in Hong Kong, roughly 3 per cent of all registered vehicles, according to the latest figures from the Hong Kong E-Vehicles Business General Association in May. By 2025, EVs are expected to account for half of all cars on the road, according to officials at the Environment Protection Department.

The government has a crucial role to play in supporting the adoption of battery-powered cars in Hong Kong, said Lam, who was speaking as part of a panel discussion at the Post’s Climate Change Hong Kong Summit on Friday.

“The EV adoption rate in the whole world is very highly driven by the government, or depends on the policy of individual governments. [It is especially important] for Hong Kong, because right now, our sales or percentage of EVs in the market is growing very fast,” he said.

The transport sector contributed around 17 per cent of Hong Kong’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2020, the second-largest contributor to after power generation, according to government statistics.

To reach the city’s goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050, the government has set aside funding to promote the electrification of vehicles and work with utility firms to phase out coal power generation by 2035.

However, Hong Kong lags behind its neighbour, Shenzhen in mainland China, when it comes to EV adoption. In 2017, Shenzhen became the world’s first city to fully electrify its bus fleets, which comprised around 16,000 vehicles at the time. All of its taxis were electrified in 2019.

“Unfortunately, Hong Kong is quite unique when it comes to EV adaptation in the public transportation sector … because they are all privately owned,” said Venessa Wong, regional director at Scania China & Hong Kong at the same panel session on Friday. “Without great incentive it is a very expensive shift of technology to private corporations.”

The challenges hindering Hong Kong’s EV transition include a lack of customer choices, no universal standard for charging facilities, and a lack of charging infrastructure, which is the top bottleneck for customers, according to Nelson Chow, partner of supply chain and operations at EY.

Standardising the city’s charging infrastructure would enable Hong Kong citizens to charge up their electric cars easily when travelling to the rest of the Greater Bay Area in mainland China, according to Hunter Cao, general manager of the Hong Kong digital power business department at the Hong Kong Representative Office of Huawei.

The government should do more to subsidise the operators of the charging facilities, the panellists said.

“Hong Kong is a very special market – the cost of land usage is very expensive compared to most markets in the world,” said Lam. The cost of installing the infrastructure inside buildings is a hidden cost which needs to be addressed.

In October 2020, the Hong Kong government launched a HK$2 billion “EV-charging at Home Subsidy Scheme”, which subsidises charging infrastructure installation for more than 60,000 parking spaces in existing private residential buildings. However, it takes time to take effect, said Lam.

The government should also involve EV makers in the early stages of urban planning and EV ecosystem set-up to create the most effective transport solutions for Hong Kong, said Wong. The humidity and heat are not charger-friendly or battery-friendly. Involving the EV makers early on can help test out the products and gauge how the vehicles interact with the infrastructure.

“That’s the only way to really help achieve the goal together with the government by 2050 … to involve all the stakeholders early on,” said Wong.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
'I am not your servant': IndiGo crew member, passenger get into row over airline meal
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
BMW driver…
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
×