Beijing continues green push, makes effort to reduce parking woes

Beijing is ramping up efforts to build a comprehensive transportation system aimed at providing safer, more convenient public services, city officials said at a recent news conference.

"Our goal is to improve city life by offering supportive and efficient transportation," said Li Zejun, spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Committee of Transport.

The capital is making progress in shifting to sustainable transportation, with an increasing number of residents opting for new energy vehicles. To support this, the city has been rolling out a network of supercharging stations, ensuring that residents enjoy a more sustainable urban lifestyle.

Beijing Public Transport Group has installed supercharging stations at bus stations and along roadsides, offering 15-minute charging services for NEV users. One of these stations, located in Fengtai district's Muxiyuan area, is equipped with four supercharging piles capable of delivering up to 240 kilowatts of power, allowing vehicles to drive as far as 400 kilometers on a 15-minute charge.

"This station handles an average of over 100 vehicle charges daily, consuming more than 2,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity," said Xin Tao, general manager of Longrui Sanyou Co, which operates the Muxiyuan station. He added that since early this year, the station has been using green electricity, contributing to Beijing's "zero carbon "goal for powering NEVs.

Since last year, 35 supercharging stations have been up and running in Beijing's urban areas, supporting 400,000 vehicle charges and consuming over 9 million kWh of electricity.

The city aims to have 50 supercharging stations by the end of the year, and 100 by the end of next year, further promoting green, sustainable travel for residents, Xin said.

Meanwhile, as the number of vehicles in Beijing grows, parking has become an increasingly pressing issue. In response, the city has been promoting shared parking to ease the strain. Behind the Muxiyuan supercharging station, a staggered shared parking lot offers 15 spaces for local vehicle owners.

"Since launching with 21 locations and 366 parking spaces, we've opened over 200 bus parking lots for staggered shared parking, providing more than 3,000 parking spots for small vehicles," said Feng Xu, business manager of asset manager center at Beijing Public Transport Group.

The staggered shared parking model operates on a "park at night, leave in the morning" system, making unused bus parking spaces available to the public during off hours.

Beijing has over 900 paid staggered shared parking lots, offering more than 60,000 parking spaces, according to Zhao Hanlu from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport. Zhao highlighted the positive impact of these efforts in alleviating residential parking challenges and optimizing parking lot usage.

zhangwei1@chinadaily.com.cn