
London Taxi Company opens £300M Coventry plant for electric cabs - m-i-l
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/22/london-taxi-company-coventry-electric-cabs-jobs-brexit
======
1ba9115454
The current target set by the Mayor of London is that by 2023 ALL taxis in
London will be zero emission including Uber.

That's the law. Great news for pollution in London and great news for the push
towards electric vehicles in general.

~~~
pjbster
I walked along Marylebone Road last night (6:30 pm) and experienced the
traffic fumes first-hand. Truly awful. The most alarming thing is that this is
the route I normally cycle along and I've never noticed the pollution in this
way before (certainly due to my cognition being monopolised by situational
dynamics - it's a busy road!). Makes me wonder whether the respiratory illness
I'm suffering at the moment is related.

Clean air can't come soon enough to London.

~~~
awjr
I was part of this programme as the cyclist riding around Bath
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08h4m30](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08h4m30)

The findings were that the intensity of the exposure was less of a problem. It
was the length of time you were exposed. So sitting in a car, even with car
filters, pretty much put you at greatest risk. Someone on a bicycle just moved
through the congestion quicker. Sadly the walker dropped out of filming. I
would suspect walking along busy routes should be avoided due to the speed at
which you are traveling, but is still better than sitting in a car.

~~~
pjbster
Thanks for that. It's convinced me to find a new route home :-)

------
rahimnathwani
According to the article, taxpayers will be subsidising taxi drivers by at
least 80MM GBP: 16MM for the factory, and 64MM in direct subsidies to taxi
owners.

I don't see why taxpayers should foot the bill for this, when most Londoners
cannot afford to ride in London taxis (and use buses, tube or minicabs/Uber
instead).

~~~
chillydawg
We all benefit from fewer old diesels on the road.

~~~
hardlianotion
I believe that from 2018, all new London taxis will have to be zero emission
capable.

On the other hand, the "capable" may be weasel wording. It seems that the taxi
being discussed is a hybrid with quite a short range (70 miles?). It can be
recharged at a point, but can also be recharged via its petrol engine, which
may run for lengthy periods if there are no quick charging points available
(not many at the moment in London).

Seems like a smallish step in the right direction.

~~~
Reason077
Petrol-electric hybrids are a _vast_ improvement over the ancient, stinking,
noisy, toxic NOx and particulate-spewing diesels that plague London's streets
today.

Plug-in hybrids with a decent electric range are even better.

------
robk
These existing black cabs are so horribly polluting it's disgusting. I'm just
glad to get all those old taxis off the road immediately.

~~~
pmuk
This plant is for the TX5, an electric taxi.

------
notyourwork
I wonder if the underlying driver of this is the profits Uber/Lyft are
siphoning from Taxi companies. If taxi companies can reduce operating costs in
long term, they may be able to reduce price in short term to become more
competitive.

(I know nothing about the taxi business, this is my thoughts from the outside
looking in so I welcome correction!)

~~~
gbuk2013
More likely the pollution issues we've had this year - most of those black
cabs are diesel, whereas Uber (who in UK are always licenced private hire
drivers) are usually driving the Toyota Prius hybrids.

Pollution was mentioned in the earlier story about these cabs being tested in
extreme winter conditions.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39121306](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39121306)

~~~
Animats
It's going to take a decade, maybe longer, to get rid of all the Diesel cars.
That was a huge mistake.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
As with many things there's an 80/20 thing going on.

A small diesel car driven once a week by a grandmother in the suburbs is much
less of an issue than a diesel cab running constantly in the city centre.

There's various rules and technologies coming into force that should have a
big impact.

~~~
Reason077
Exactly. Along with taxis, diesel vans are another huge contributor that must
be prioritised.

They're some of the dirtiest, most polluting vehicles - and many are on
central London streets constantly making deliveries, etc.

It would make sense to focus subsidies on getting these guys into
electrics/hybrids first. Each diesel van off the road has a much bigger impact
on air quality than, say, getting Grandma a subsidised Nissan LEAF.

------
olivermarks
How these taxis will consume energy: electricity generation in the UK comes
from three main sources – gas, coal-fired power stations and nuclear. A small
but growing proportion of electricity is supplied by renewables. Gas accounted
for 46 % of electricity supplied in 2008.

~~~
lucaspiller
It's not perfect but burning gas emits less CO2 than burning petrol or diesel.
It also keeps all the pollutants out of the city, so public health should
increase.

~~~
Symbiote
Keeping the pollution out of London is the best part. By European standards,
the city is very polluted, and the old taxis are disproportionately
responsible.

~~~
justincormack
Buses are also a big contributor, although these are gradually being replaced
too.

~~~
Symbiote
Buses in London have been updated to Euro IV standard, and most are Euro V or
better. Of course, they are larger vehicles, and pollute in proportion, but at
least they don't park in long lines and idle their engines for hours...

[http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-fleet-
audit-130117.pdf](http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-fleet-audit-130117.pdf)

