EV date set for London Taxi Company

In order to keep in line with Transport for London (TfL) legislation, the London Taxi Company (LTC) has announced that it will launch its first electrically powered black cab in late 2017.

With a range-extended electric set-up much like the Vauxhall Ampera and BMW i3 Range Extender, the vehicle will be ‘zero emission capable’, as TfL legislation, that comes into play in January 2018, requires.

Production is due to begin once work has finished on LTC’s new purpose-built plant in Coventry later this year, with details being withheld at the moment until testing concludes.

However, LTC CEO Peter Johansen has leaked a few hints at what drivers of the vehicle can expect - saying it would only need one fill-up per day for the range-extending petrol generator.

He also clarified the necessity for a range-extender rather than a traditional battery EV, citing recharging times and the lack of a fast-charge infrastructure as contributory factors for the traditional battery EV’s incompatibility with taxi use. Johansen also commented that current investment in infrastructure is insufficient to handle demand, and that the limited resources mean the plan to introduce 150 fast-chargers to London has been scaled back to just 75.

Read more