High Mileage Taxis Save Money Through Electrification in Colombia

As part of its commitment to combat vehicle-based emissions and address climate change, Colombia has launched a country wide Biotaxis initiative to green its existing taxi fleet. In partnership with C40 Cities Leadership Group, the city of Bogotá, Colombia developed a 50-electric taxi pilot project. Successful outcomes of the initiative included lower maintenance costs compared to gasoline and compressed natural gas vehicles, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline and compressed natural gas vehicles. These successful results motivated the city to develop an EV policy and expand the electric taxi project with the aim of creating the largest fleet of electric taxis in the Americas. Notable actions and good practices supporting this work, and profiled in this case study, are highlighted below.

• Assessing the impact of technologies on emissions is important to inform transportation project planning at the local level. In the case of Bogota, taxis represent a small fraction of motorized vehicles, but their high mileage contributes disproportionately to greenhouse gas and criteria air pollutant emissions from the transport sector.
• Because of their high visibility in Bogota, taxis provided a useful way for the municipal government to publicly showcase support for vehicle electrification.