China has launched a fleet of electric taxis in booming Shenzhen and is aiming to add more battery-operated vehicles in order to check the impact of global warming.

With the launch of 40 electric taxis Monday, Shenzhen city of southern Guangdong province has become the country's first city to have environment-friendly transport in operation, said Hu Jianping, president of Shenzhen Bus Group (SBG).

"The E6 cars' ET (environment technology) batteries give off zero emissions and cause no harm to the environment," said Wang Chuanfu, chief executive of BYD, manufacturer of the electric taxis.