According to the National Development Council's "2050 Net Zero Carbon Emissions Pathway," Taiwan aims to achieve a 35% electric motorcycle share by 2030, with all new passenger cars, including new cars, to be fully electric by 2040. The Smart Mobility Association of Taiwan (SMAT), a group of electric motorcycle industry players, released its "2022 Taiwan Electric Motorcycle Industry Policy Proposal" today (the 1st). The proposal sets a target of 50% electric motorcycle share by 2030 and encourages local governments to set a timeline for achieving the target even earlier than 2040.
SMAT recommends that the government accelerate the electrification of transportation by increasing subsidies, improving environmental friendliness, or implementing policies to incentivize businesses to adopt electric vehicles as part of their ESG initiatives. Legislator Wang Wanyu and civil society groups also emphasize that "people-oriented transportation" is the key to carbon reduction in the transportation sector, and that green public transportation should be more actively promoted.
To achieve full electrification of new motorcycles by 2040, the industry calls for strengthening mid-term goals.
In March of this year, the National Development Council announced Taiwan's "2050 Net Zero Carbon Emissions Pathway." Regarding the transportation sector, greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector in 2019 were approximately 36.99 million metric tons of CO₂e, accounting for 12.8% of the national total. Road transport was the primary source of these emissions, accounting for approximately 96.8%. This indicates that promoting low-carbon or zero-carbonization of road vehicles is the primary path to achieving net-zero transportation emissions.
The current international trend is for electric vehicles to replace traditional fuel vehicles, so the "electrification of transportation" has been specifically incorporated into the Net Zero strategy. The National Development Council aims to achieve a 35% share of electric motorcycle sales in total motorcycle sales by 2030, increasing this to 70% by 2035, and further achieving 100% electrification of new motorcycle sales by 2040.
Toward this goal, the Smart Mobility Association of Taiwan (SMAT) today released its "2022 Taiwan Electric Scooter Industry Policy Proposal," aiming to achieve a 50% share of new electric vehicles by 2030. It also suggests that local governments set a timeline earlier than the National Development Council's 2040 target of 100% to accelerate overall progress. SMAT Chairman Wang Jianquan also proposed at the press conference that the central government set "exceeding one million electric scooters by 2024" as a policy goal. This could be achieved through government investment in R&D, increased subsidies, environmental improvements, and policies that incentivize businesses to adopt electric vehicles as part of their ESG initiatives, thereby increasing the market share of electric vehicles and aligning with international carbon reduction trends.
Electric scooters held only 11% of the market share last year, a figure scholars say is far from the target.
However, both the 35% target set by the National Development Council for 2030 and the 50% recommended by the SAMT are significantly different from current market conditions. According to SMAT statistics, sales of both gasoline and electric scooters declined in 2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. New electric scooters sold approximately 94,000 units, representing only 11.6% of the total.
Looking back at Taiwan's electric motorcycle market, data shows that 2019 was its peak, with sales of 169,000 units and an 18.7% market share. However, in 2020, the electric motorcycle market shrank significantly to 99,000 units, with market share falling back to 9.6%, due to the Environmental Protection Administration's inclusion of subsidies for seventh-generation gasoline-powered motorcycles and the elimination of subsidies for new electric motorcycle purchases. Overall, as of June of this year, the number of registered electric motorcycles in Taiwan was approximately 583,000.
In this regard, Professor Qiu Junrong of National Central University bluntly stated that the current market share is far from the target of 35%, and hopes to see clearer policy guidance in the future to give the public a direction for progress.
Zeng Yuqian, an analyst at the Institute of International Strategy Development of Industrial Technology at the Industrial Research Institute, further stated that the main policy guidelines should be "car purchase subsidies", "building a friendly environment" and "improving the supply chain", replacing restrictions with encouragement and replacing punishment with restrictions, which will help increase market share.
Director of the National Development Council's Industrial Development Division, Chan Fang-kuan, emphasized that the electrification of transportation involves industrial transformation, public lifestyles, and even charging stations, which are crucial for grid resilience. The NDC's approach is merely a start for public dialogue, and the content is subject to change. We welcome discussions from all sectors on how to accelerate achievement of standards.
Source: Environmental Information Center (https://e-info.org.tw/node/234899)
