You can’t miss them when you’re in the U.K.: the little black taxi cabs. Black cars, Hackney carriages, whatever you call them, the little purpose-built cars have been a staple in Europe for years, and nowhere more so than the city of London, England. Currently the fleet is held up by the LTI (London Taxi Company) TX-series of cars, which are about the size of a PT Cruiser, can hold three people plus the driver easily, can turn on a dime and run on a small diesel engine. Unfortunately, LTI is in the middle of a change of ownership, from Manganese Bronze Holdings to Geely, the Chinese manufacturer, and all signs show that no LTI taxi has been built since 2013.
Nissan has been schlepping around an NV200-based cab for a while that is cleaner than the current LTI fleet and is capable of meeting wheelchair-carrying requirements, something the LTI cab struggles to do. However, there is legislation coming down from London Mayor Boris Johnson that would turn London proper into an “Ultra Low Emission Zone”. This proposal would charge diesel vehicle owners £20 every time they drove their car into the city, push older diesel and gas-powered vehicles out of the city, and would require 7,000 zero-emissions taxis and 1,600 zero-emissions busses on the streets by 2020.
Nissan claims the NV200 would have to be significantly re-engineered to meet the requirements, and until the measure is defeated, has completely stopped work on the NV200 London cab. If the proposal goes through, Nissan would either have the option of using the e-NV200 electric van, or telling London to stuff it. Time will tell which choice they get to make.
Buy up all the old black cabs, stick in big-block Ford motors and huge tyres on a narrowed rear axle and stick two fingers up to Boris Johnson!
Yup !
A zero-emissions zone sounds noble as all-get-out, but it’s not practical. I fully understand that it’s an idea adopted with only the best intentions, but it’s just not feasible as-is.
Teddy Roosevelt, my hero, espoused the belief that the best should not be the enemy of the good, that we shouldn’t hold on to unrealistic high ideals when they risk interfering with ideals and actions that are inherently good. I think that this system needs a partial-zero emissions vehicle option, something practical and attainable.
… not to mention the fact that Zero – Emissions vehicles are a pipe dream and a myth considering the reality that even we humans are anything but … zero – emissions .
The sad fact is this … the Green and the Ecological ‘ Movements ‘ no longer are in fact … movements … having become ‘ for profit ‘ corporate entities who’s sole agenda is the filling their own back pockets and to hell with reality .. consequences or yours and my well being
Nice TR catch by the way . Quite appropriate . Here’s a Jacques Ellul quote to go with it ;
” In the majority of cases for every single gain made by ‘ new ‘ technologies ‘ three new consequences are created ” [ ” The Technological Bluff ” ]
Which is to say … even the so called ‘ partial emission vehicles when studied from cradle to grave solve nothing … creating a multitude of new problems we’re unable to resolve . In fact .. at best all ‘ partial emissions ‘ vehicles do accomplish is to shift the emissions from one ‘ backyard ‘ to someone else’s…
… following the age old dictum ‘ Not in my backyard … but in yours .. its fine “
Spot on, man. Those hybrids and EVs are absolute environmental nightmares, both when they are created and when they are retired, thanks to all those batteries.
I’m sure that the people trying to push this bill are the same types that own a house bigger than a school and fly everywhere in their private jets. They want to inconvenience everyone else by making them be “green” but see no reason why they hamper themselves.