The city of Beijing has begun a pilot programme to convert street lamps into charging poles for electric vehicles. This programme has seen the conversion of 88 sodium lamps into energy saving LED units. This move comes as a part of the Chinese government’s efforts to encourage people to buy EVs and reduce pollution.
The system works on the basis that the extra energy now available will be redirected towards the charging units. Obviously in the larger scheme of things we also expect that they will eventually fit solar panels to make the energy production even more eco-friendly. The charging ports will be available for use at all times of the day throughout the year.
The city is expected to take this project in full steam over the next two years and aims to install 10,000 charging ports across various locations by 2017. The country is seeing a boom in demand for electric cars and this has been aided by the tax exemptions, price subsidy and most importantly the government itself mandating its branches to buy and use EVs.
