Penghu County has long been planning to develop a low-carbon environment, with Hujing identified as the best place to become the first island using only electric motorcycles, as it is relatively small, said Yeh Kuo-ching, director-general of Penghu County's Economic Affairs Bureau.

The short range of the vehicles before recharging is required and the dearth of recharging stations are two major problems in promoting electric motorcycles, local officials said. However, these will not be a problem on Hujing.

Yeh noted that a fully charged electric motorcycle can run for up to 50 kilometers.

"You could ride an electric scooter around the entire island more than 10 times, " Yeh added. He did not mention a specific timetable for the implementation of the plan.

Hujing Island is located seven nautical miles off the coast of the county seat of Magong City. With an area of just 2.133 square kilometers, it is the seventh-largest island in the Penghu archipelago and is most famous for its distinctive basalt rock formations.

It has a permanent population of around 400, and around 75 percent of its 160 motorcycles are rental machines for visiting tourists, according to borough chief Chen Da-chuan.

Chen cited the results of a recent survey showing that up to 68 percent of Hujing's residents would be willing to replace their gasoline-powered motorcycles with electric ones.

"We hope the government can provide more subsidies for purchasing new electric motorcycles," Chen added.

After a casino construction proposal was defeated by Penghu's residents in a referendum last month, Penghu Magistrate Wang Chien-fa turned to the possibility of developing along the path of green energy, making Penghu a low-carbon county.

His plan echoed remarks by former Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, who said in July that the government will launch a "low-carbon community" that will involve the selection of an outlying island that will become a model for a low-carbon lifestyle, with at least 50 percent of the electricity on the island supplied from renewable sources.