Want to ride in a Tesla? Soon you can just visit one Chinese city and hail a taxi

Tesla sales in China last year were bad: bad enough to cause layoffs and force Tesla to offer new China-only services. But this year, things seem to be going better. The latest sign: a Wuhan taxi company just bought 100 Teslas to use as taxi cabs.

The purchase is part of Wuhan’s larger plan to go green by getting 1,100 electric taxi cabs onto its streets. Reportedly, the Wuhan Third Ring cab company has already purchased ten Tesla S85 sedans that should be integrated into the Wuhan taxi rotation by the end of this month. The rest of the cars, which have a base price of RMB 777,900 (US$125,000) in China, will be purchased before August and if all goes well there will be a hundred Teslas cruising the Wuhan streets by the beginning of September.

Taking a Tesla as your cab sounds fun – after all, the thing goes from 0-60 in 4.4. seconds – but it will also cost you a little extra. The exact fees haven’t been chosen yet, but flag-down fees for electric cars are likely to be between RMB 16 and RMB 25, which makes them a bit more expensive than regular gas-guzzling cabs. Wuhan Third Ring CEO Wang Xindan says he sees the Tesla cabs as appealing to high-end business people.

Wuhan is not the first city in the world to offer Tesla taxis – several European countries have them, for example – but it is the first city in China to do so. If other cab companies in other cities follow suit, it could be great news for Tesla (and of course also good news for passengers and for the environment).

(Source: Sina Tech)