Charging remains another key issue to be tackled. Because of its limited land, Hong Kong faces issues in providing sufficient charging infrastructure across the territory.
Parking spaces with charging ports remain challenging to find. They are often occupied, sometimes by conventional vehicles, and charging takes considerably longer than filling a fuel tank.
Building a more comprehensive and reliable fast-charging network across the city is therefore vital if EVs are to be more widely adopted.
As well as subsidies to increase the number of charging facilities, more charging ports could be made available in old buildings, and petrol stations could be gradually converted into EV charging stations.
CLP Power has for years promoted low-carbon driving to make Hong Kong a greener and smarter city. It has continually extended its free EV charging service to offer EV drivers a convenient and reliable territory-wide network.
To cater to surging demand for its EV charging service, CLP Power has established semi-quick and quick EV charging stations in Kowloon, the New Territories, and Lantau.
Meanwhile, Smart Charge, a joint venture between CLP Holdings and HKT, offers and deploys EV charging solutions in private and public carparks across Hong Kong.
Accelerating the pace of change
Some critics of EVs argue that they are not truly sustainable or green because the way the electricity that powers them is produced still creates a lot of emissions.
New processes to avoid this are being explored. With a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) model, for example, EVs are able to trasnfer their electricity and sell demand response services back to the power grid, allowing for a more circular energy economy.
The electrification of vehicles will live up to its promise of a greener future when the prices of vehicles and batteries fall, when charging networks grow and become more intelligent, when more EV models are available and when EV technology matures.
By overcoming these speed bumps, the road ahead will become smoother, greener, and more sustainable.