The Seoul Metropolitan Government initiated the test run of hybrid taxis from December 3, to renovate existing gas taxis into eco friendly ones which will facilitate the improvement of air quality of the city. To launch this taxi, the city government has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment of Korea on introduction of hybrid taxis.

Korea LPG Association, Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi Association and Hyundai Kia Motors have approved that upgrading the air quality and sinking the emission of greenhouse gases in the city are burning problems. For this reason, these associations have agreed to support the distribution of hybrid taxis. The Korea National Joint Conference of Taxi Association will choose participating taxi companies. Hyundai Kia Motors as an automobile manufacturer will observe and develop new technologies and ensures durability of components. Korea LPG Association will offer fuel for the taxis, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Environment will take care of overall administration of the project.

Eco friendly taxis use LP gas as fuel and adopted liquefied petroleum direct injection engine to boost 1,600cc engine power. The taxi also has a set up of 15kw electric motor as supplementary power unit to produce electricity for charging the battery. The hybrid taxi also shut down the engine when the car is not running to reduce fuel consumption. The vehicle is expected to be particularly effective for the taxi fleet as taxis spend most of the time waiting with their engine on.

Hybrid taxi is extremely eco friendly as one hybrid taxi is likely to lessen more than six tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

Source: http://automotive.einnews.com/article.php?nid=24563