有多少小伙伴习惯在站台等车时刷手机？如果你在深圳，那可能会错过公交车，因为驶来的是一辆辆纯电动公交车，静悄悄地停下来，又轻轻离去，还没有一丝尾气。英国《卫报》将其称之为“无声革命”，可谓是全球清洁能源竞赛中的里程碑。

You have to keep your eyes peeled for the bus at the station in Shenzhen’s Futian central business district these days. The diesel¹ behemoths that once signalled their arrival with a piercing hiss², a rattle³ of engine and a plume⁴ of fumes⁵ are no more, replaced with the world’s first and largest 100% electric bus fleet.

如今，在深圳的福田中央商务区公交站，你得留神才能注意到公交车已到跟前。过去的公交车是烧柴油的庞然大物，只要听到尖锐的嘶嘶声、引擎的震颤声，看到冒烟，就知道车来了，现在取而代之的是世界上第一批、也是规模最大的纯电动公交车队。

behemoth [b?'hi?m?θ]: n. 巨兽

Shenzhen now has 16,000 electric buses in total and is noticeably quieter for it. “We find that the buses are so quiet that people might not hear them coming,” says Joseph Ma, deputy general manager at Shenzhen Bus Group, the largest of the three main bus companies in the city. “In fact, we’ve received requests to add some artificial noise to the buses so that people can hear them. We’re considering it.”

有1.6万辆电动公交车的深圳，也因此变得安静多了。深圳巴士集团副总经理马正源说：“公交车完全没声音，可能到身边了都注意不到。我们还接到建议，希望人为地给车增加一点噪音，这样人们才会听到。我们正在考虑这一建议。”

The benefits from the switch from diesel buses to electric are not confined to less noise pollution: this fast-growing megacity of 12 million is also expected to achieve an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions⁶ of 48% and cuts in pollutants⁷ such as nitrogen oxides, non-methane hydrocarbons⁸ and particulate⁹ matter.

从柴油公交车换成电动公交车的好处，不仅是减少噪声污染。深圳市有1200万人口，这个快速发展的大都市预计很快将实现减少48%二氧化碳排放量并减少污染物（比如氮氧化物、无甲烷碳氢化合物、颗粒物）排放的目标。

megacity['meg?s?t?]: n.大城市（人口超过1000万的）

Shenzhen Bus Group estimates it has been able to conserve¹⁰ 160,000 tonnes of coal per year and reduce annual CO2 emissions by 440,000 tonnes. Its fuel bill has halved¹¹.

据深圳巴士集团估计，集团因此每年可节约16万吨煤，二氧化碳年排放量可减少44万吨，燃料费支出也减半。

“With diesel buses I can remember standing¹² at the bus stop and the heat, noise and emissions they generated made it unbearable¹³ in the summer,” says Ma. “The electric buses have made a tremendous difference.”

马正源说：“我记得路上还是柴油公交车时，站在公交站台上，扑面而来的都是高温、噪音和废气，在夏天尤其受不了。而纯电动公交车带来了巨变。”

China’s drive to reduce the choking smog that envelops¹⁴ many of its major cities has propelled a huge investment in electric transport. Although it remains¹⁵ expensive for cities to introduce electric buses – one bus costs around 1.8 million yuan – Shenzhen was able to go all-electric thanks to generous subsidies¹⁶ from both central and local government.

为减少笼罩许多大城市的雾霾，中国一直大力投资发展电动交通工具。城市引入电动公交车可是笔不小的费用（一辆电动公交车耗资约180万元），深圳的公交车能实现全电动，得益于中央和地方政府的大力补贴。

“Typically, more than half of the cost of the bus is subsidized by government,” says Ma. “In terms of operation there is another subsidy¹⁷: if we run our buses for a distance of more than 60,000km we receive just under 500,000 yuan from local government.”

马正源说：“一般来讲，公交车一半多的费用都由政府补贴资助，另外还有运营补贴：如果公交车里程数超过6万公里，地方政府还会发放不到50万元的补贴”。

This subsidy is put towards reducing the cost of the bus fares: “The government looks at the public transport very much as social welfare.”

这一补贴是为了降低公交票价。他说：“政府基本就是把公共交通当作一种社会福利。”

To keep Shenzhen’s electric vehicle fleet running, the city has built around 40,000 charging piles. Shenzhen Bus Company has 180 depots¹⁸ with their own charging facilities installed. One of its major depots in Futian can accommodate around 20 buses at the same time.

为保障电动公交车队的运营，深圳市建了大约4万个充电桩，深圳巴士集团自建180个充电站，福田区的一个大型充电站能同时为大约20辆公交车充电。

“Most of the buses we charge overnight for two hours and then they can run their entire service, as the range of the bus is 200km per charge,” says Ma.

马正源说：“对大多数公交车来说，我们在晚上充电两小时，就能支持第二天的运营全程，因为每次充电的续航里程是200公里。”

More than 30 Chinese cities have made plans to achieve 100% electrified¹⁹ public transit²⁰ by 2020.

目前中国有30多个城市计划到2020年实现公共交通全部电动化。

But with central government planning to withdraw subsidies by 2020, introducing electric buses elsewhere could be too expensive.

但中央政府打算到2020年取消补贴，这样一来其他地区发展电动公交车的成本可能就太高了。

There is also geography to consider. Shenzhen is fairly flat, but the hills of nearby Hong Kong have proven too much in trials of electric buses. Other cities in northern China have struggled with battery power in the extreme cold of winter.

地理条件也是一个考虑因素。深圳地形很平坦，但香港在试运行电动公交车时就发现山路太多。中国北方城市则存在冬季极冷时电池续航力的问题。

Meanwhile, cities such as London and New York are accelerating their drive towards electric buses. London plans to make all single-decker buses emission-free by 2020, and all double-deckers hybrid²¹ by 2019. New York plans to make its bus fleet all-electric by 2040.

同时，伦敦和纽约等城市也在加速其公交电动化。伦敦将在2020年前实现所有单层巴士零排放，所有双层巴士将在2019年底前改成混动。纽约计划在2040年前实现所有公交车电动化。

double-decker ['d?bl'dek?] : n.双层公共汽车

Riding the 222 bus the length of Shenzhen’s CBD, you hear little sound other than a soft whine²² when the driver accelerates.

在222路公交车驶过深圳中央商务区的这段路上，公交车加速时只能听到轻柔的呜呜声。

The easy-to-clean hard plastic seats are not the most comfortable but most passengers opt²³ to stand anyway – a choice made easier by the smoothness of the ride.

易清洁的塑料座椅不算太舒适，但大多乘客站着也无所谓——反正一路行驶很平稳。

Rolling into our destination, the doors open with a beep, beep, beep – the loudest noise the bus has made the entire journey.

车到站，车门打开，发出哔哔哔的声音，这是全程中公交车发出的最大声音。

“It’s quieter, smoother and I only pay the same fare as before,” says Lai, a regular passenger. “I would say most people here are happy with the switch.”

经常乘坐公交车的赖姓乘客说：“电动公交车更安静、更平稳、票价也和以前一样。我觉得多数人对这一转变都是满意的。”