While New York drivers wonder where they can plug in their electric cars, CLP Power says it has already set up a network of 21 recharging stations at car parks in Kowloon, the New Territories and Lantau.
Launched in November 2009, the CLP Power electric-vehicle recharging network consists of 11 standard plug-in stations in operation in public car parks. Another 10 stations will be launched this year, the company says.
The network is operational, open to the public and offers free charging for 2010, CLP Power says, adding The Link and Wilson Parking will provide free parking for EVs during the same period. 'Afterwards, the rate will be HK$3 per hour,' a CLP spokeswoman said yesterday.
Quiet, clean and offering some 75 per cent saving on fuel costs when compared with petrol vehicles, electric cars also have lower running costs, says CLP Power, which says it adopted EVs in the 1960s, ran 15 of them in daily operations between 1984 and 1997, and plans to add Smith vans to its electric fleet of 10 Mitsubishi iMiEVs this year.
CLP Power's estimates make electric motoring seem affordable. A two-hour charge would cost HK$6 and allow a '25km round trip between Kowloon Tong and Tseung Kwan O'; four hours would cost HK$12 for a '50km round trip between Mong Kok and Tuen Mun' while a six-to-eight-hour full charge would cost HK$18 to HK$24 and afford a '100km round trip between Kwun Tong and Tin Shui Wai', the company says.