All buses in Taiwan should be electric by 2030, says Premier William Lai. All buses in Taiwan should be electric by 2030, says Premier William Lai. (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In a new campaign against air pollution, all buses should be powered by electricity by 2030, the sale of motorcycles using fossil fuels should be banned by 2035 and the sale of such cars by 2040, Premier William Lai (賴清德) said Thursday.

Taiwan has been fighting with serious air pollution over the past few weeks, leading to local governments scrapping plans for New Year’s Eve fireworks and to street protests.

Thursday’s regular weekly Cabinet meeting discussed measures to cut red alerts for air pollution by half by 2019, and Premier Lai personally chaired the news conference to present the decisions reached during the conclave.

The new plan was wide-ranging as it also involved controlling emissions from state-owned enterprises and imposing standards that were tougher than those known internationally, the Central News Agency reported.

Transportation policy would include a timetable, with official cars and buses going completely electric by 2030, Lai told reporters. The sale of motorcycles powered by fossil fuels would be banned in 2035 and cars powered by fossil fuels in 2040 in what Lai called a realistic process which had been discussed by relevant businesses.

Despite the government’s plans to make Taiwan nuclear-free by 2025, there would be no power shortages even if vehicles switched to electricity, Lai said.

At present, each electric bus cost between NT$7 million (US$233,000) and NT$10 million (US$333,000), with subsidies from NT$4 million (US$133,000) to NT$6 million (US$200,000) per bus, with a total of 10,000 buses on the road, the Ministry of Transportation said.

The main aim of the changes would still be to cut air pollution, with the number of red alerts to be reduced by half by 2019, Environmental Protection Administration Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said.

During all of 2015, Taiwan’s 76 pollution measuring stations recorded a total of 997 red alerts, a figure which had already decreased by 20 percent by December 17 this year, Lee said. According to the new government plans, the number of alerts should be cut to 499 for all of 2019, CNA reported.