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Following is the transcript of a media session by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, after attending a function on electric vehicles (EV) at Hong Kong Science Park, Sha Tin today (November 11):
Reporter: Could you repeat that in English, please?
Secretary for the Environment: I was saying that EVs using Hong Kong as a market is a reality. Looking back just two to three years' time, we have been seeing quite a large number of EVs taking Hong Kong as a possible market for the new product. We are not just talking about prototypes; we are now talking about EVs which will enter into commercial production whereby they will be eyeing a market like Hong Kong as their gateway to the bigger market.
Looking around this show, we have seen different types of vehicles, not just private vehicles or passenger vehicles, we have been seeing vans, passenger vans, goods vehicles, special function vehicles and also buses, even double-decker buses, all driven by electrical motors in place of internal combustion engines.
Now the EV is also a key for Hong Kong to help build ourselves into a cleaner city because not only will they be reducing emission on the roadside, they are also helping us to reduce our carbon footprint altogether. So we are hoping that the EV can be a contributor to our going green movement. The Government will shortly be launching a $300 million Green Transport Fund whereby we will be subsidising transport operators in the public transport sector to take on board some of the technologies that we have seen today. So (we will) see if the EV or similar environmentally friendly engines can help us modernise our fleet of public transport. We are also seeing that the EV can bring changes to green buildings because in the newly-issued green building initiatives, we are proposing that developers when they intend to get the gross floor area concession in the new buildings, all car parks would need to be EV-facilitated. That means they will need to lay the cables to facilitate at the time when EVs finally come, people can just install a switch and plug in their cars. So new buildings will be better equipped with all these facilities.
Reporter: What is the earliest time for Hong Kong to use electric buses бн ?
Secretary for the Environment: We are very encouraged to see most of the major franchised bus companies are now testing various types of electric buses, including those that are battery-driven, and some are using supercapacitors. The technology is mushrooming. Of course, at this stage, some of them are still at the research stage. At a time when we are seeing a lot of these EVs coming into commercial production, I think we should seize the opportunity to see if Hong Kong could be the market, and perhaps a very good market, for these technologies to come and whereby we can take full benefit.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, November 11, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:55
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