BEIJING -- The number of electric buses in Beijing will increase from the current 1,000 to 10,000 by 2020 in an effort to improve the environment, said Beijing Public Transport Group on Wednesday.

The proportion of buses purely powered by electricity among the total public transport vehicles will increase from the current 10 percent to 60 percent in three years, said Zhong Qianghua, deputy general manager of the group.

Zhong said electric buses create lower emissions and less noise. Each of the vehicles can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 tonnes every year, and the vehicles are free from PM2.5 emissions.

Recently, two bus routes in Beijing's Yanqing District started using 50 new electric buses. It takes only around 20 minutes to charge a bus, and a single charge can power a bus for 80 kilometers.

The two routes can transport 3.45 million people every year, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,600 tonnes.

Currently the group operates about 1,020 bus routes in Beijing. By 2020, the group will be able to transport about 3.046 billion people per year.