YINCHUAN, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of rechargeable electric taxis has hit the road in the city of Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, according to the Ningxia branch of China's State Grid.

A total of 50 new energy taxis were put into operation Tuesday, which is expected to save 38,000 liters of petrol every year, said Ji Hongliang, chief engineer with the company.

He said the electric cars were zero emission vehicles, more environmentally-friendly and economical compared with traditional fuel and gas ones.

"The new energy auto could save me more than half of the cost every month compared with my phased-out gas car," said taxi driver Wang Tianwu.

Facial recognition and real-time monitoring will be added to electric taxis in the future, Ji said.

Ningxia will gradually replace traditional cabs with new energy vehicles to help meet the region's environment protection goals, he added.

A total of 280 charging piles have been installed in Ningxia so far and the number will reach 5,000 by the end of 2020.