Battery-powered minicabs similar to the City Cab presently running in Valletta are set to multiply across Malta. Subsidiary legislation to the taxi services regulations came into effect last November, opening up the market for electric mini-taxi operators.

All other types of taxis must be white, but electric cab operators have the advantage of choosing their own colour scheme.

Fares are limited to a maximum total of €5 per trip, and advertising on the cabs may help boost income of these cleaner vehicles.

There has been some criticism from environmental circles over how environment-friendly these mini electric cars really are.

However, there is talk in the air of a scheme to help provide energy from clean renewable sources, such as solar charging of batteries.

Opening up the range of these vehicles as a transport option is also on the cards, with plans for a network of charging stations (the electric equivalent of petrol stations) at central points in a number of towns in the more populated areas.

Apart from Valletta, the Rabat, Buġibba, Mosta, Ħamrun and Sliema areas, as well as the Three Cities across the harbour will all soon have electric minicab stands to extend the electric taxi run more widely. Other stands may be made available close to main shopping areas or supermarkets.

Users of public transport may often find that the nearest bus stop is still quite a long way from their front door. Elderly passengers returning home with heavy shopping bags face a struggle at the last leg of the journey.

Entrepreneur Adam Rice, founder and chief executive officer of the electric tuk-tuk launched last year in Germany and Holland, spoke last week at a Transport Malta seminar of “the last mile” problem faced by commuters everywhere.

He said he had been inspired by the three-wheeler auto rickshaws used to get around quickly in congested traffic of urban areas in Asia.

Known as ‘tuk-tuks’ in India, this noisy and dirty mechanical version saw a conversion to a cleaner electric model after Germany announced its goal to become world leader in electric mobility. The electric tuk-tuk was born.

Successfully introduced in Holland, the home of an earlier gas-powered model, the tuk-tuk hit a legal obstacle in Germany as it had only three wheels. However, after the tuk-tuk passed all EU safety tests, an exception was made to the law which restricts minicab operations to quadricycles. It is hoped the same can be applied in Malta’s case.

The electric minicab can take three passengers plus the driver (a stretch version can take six or more) with a top speed of 50 kph and a range of up to 80 km.

Fast charging of batteries can be done in an hour or two in one’s own garage or at designated charge points.

Battery exchange (which is faster than recharging) at a station set up for this purpose would take only 10 minutes to replace a run-down battery with a fully charged one if this facility becomes available.

At least two other Malta-based companies are competing with the electric tuk-tuk for the new niche in passenger trade.

The present operator of Valletta’s Gem City Cab run by CT Park Malta Ltd is vying with another actor on the local scene, agents for the Italian Estrima line.

Now anyone with a valid minicab operator and driver’s licences can set up a business. All will welcome the reduction of noise and improved air quality in urban areas that the electric minicabs can bring.

Clean air and quieter streets are a definite boon, and especially so if we recharge electric vehicles with green energy.

A reminder of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions came with more stark reminders that the problem is not going to go away any time soon.

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, professor of climatology and vice-chair on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was on a brief visit to Malta this month for talks with government.

During a lecture at the University, he acknowledged the challenge of translating complex scientific information into political targets. The IPCC assesses all technical information while reserving judgement but relies on policy-makers to take the necessary decisions.

Yet politicians are known to make excuses, claiming the information is not simple enough.

Without wanting to apply undue pressure, the scientists have firmly pointed out that there was enough clear information to allow policy-makers to choose a global target as far back as 2001.

But it was only after the latest climate change meetings in Copenhagen and Cancun that a number was put on the climate change convention’s Article 2 on a global scale.

It was hammered out that measures leading to a reduction in temperature of two degrees Celcius would be needed to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

This level must be achieved within a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally and ensure that food production is not threatened.

The world stock of a lesser-known greenhouse gas, methane, and the speed at which it is being released into the atmosphere will be looked at in the next IPCC report.