Goodbye to private motoring...from just 9 years?

Ectophile

God knows what the police and taxi drivers are supposed to do.

The company that makes London cabs has already stopped making diesels.  The only option now is an electric taxi with a petrol-powered generator as a range extender.

They cost a fortune to buy, but the savings in diesel are equally huge.

AdrianC

Ectophile said:

God knows what the police and taxi drivers are supposed to do.

The company that makes London cabs has already stopped making diesels.  The only option now is an electric taxi with a petrol-powered generator as a range extender.

You make it sound like they had a choice...

Transport for London banned all new diesel-powered taxis from the start of 2018, requiring all new taxis to have 30 mile EV range and <50g/km CO2. It uses a Volvo 1.5 three-pot petrol engine, because the company that makes the taxis - LEVC - and Volvo are both owned by Geely.

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/emissions-standards-for-taxis#on-this-page-1

ElefantEd

There are loads of electric taxis in Edinburgh, so clearly they are viable.

Ditzy_Mitzy

ElefantEd said:

There are loads of electric taxis in Edinburgh, so clearly they are viable.

Edinburgh councillors back electric taxi fleet - Midlothian View
These things?  They are partially electric, granted, but cheat somewhat by also having a petrol engine.  

ElefantEd

Do they? They always seem to be clogging up the chargers at Sherriffhall so I assumed they were pure electric!

50Twuncle

[Deleted User] said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

I suppose those of us who like petrol cars can take solace in the fact that Boris has never successfully managed to pull off, well, anything.  He comes up with the odd slogan, but does anyone remember the Garden Bridge, Boris Island, Heathrow expansion, Crossrail even - which exists but is comically overbudget and behind schedule.  The wheels are in the process of falling off HS2 and what does he come up with?  Electric cars and ray guns in space.  I'll believe it when I see it.  
Plus, to all those worried, classic car owners are running 50 or 100 year old machinery without appreciable difficulty.  I think petrol cars are safe as long as the know how, petrol and will to keep them going lasts.  

I'm no fan of Boris, but I don't think you can blame him for either Heathrow expansion or Crossrail, both of which have been in the pipeline since God was a boy.

What about the high speed rail link - that's going to cost the county £100 billion + just to save 20 minutes in a journey as well as causing untold environmental damage and hundreds of families to move home

I mean - hang on a minute Boris - I thought that the country was broke ?

silverwhistle

John_ said:

I think that the tipping point for me to try again will be when I can do the 300 miles to my parents, in winter, with the heating on, at about 80mph on a single charge. Comfortably.

Hmm, can't be any of the motorways round here or near London or Brum, but even at 80mph that distance would be around 4 hours.

You obviously have a stronger bladder than I do and possibly a bit younger. I used to do Channel ports to Italy in a day but I wouldn't on my own any longer. Times change, and although my EV has a much smaller range I'm still tempted to try the trip when the situation gets better, hopefully next summer. If an overnight stop is required somewhere like Beaune a nice meal with a bottle of burgundy seems a reasonable compromise to me, although I appreciate some people find both compromise and change difficult.

Ditzy_Mitzy

ElefantEd said:

Do they? They always seem to be clogging up the chargers at Sherriffhall so I assumed they were pure electric!

They do, although the LEVC taxi website (I've looked at it, prompted by the discussion here) doesn't make much of a fuss about the engine and almost implies they are bona-fide electric cars.  Pure electric range is about 60 miles, which extends to over 300 with the engine running.  Fuel economy is quoted at a not exactly Earth shattering 36 mpg.  Someone more knowledgeable than me has explained, further up, that the engine in the new taxi is a 1.5 litre Volvo petrol unit that drives a generator.  Motive power is provided by the electric motor alone.

AdrianC

50Twuncle said:

What about the high speed rail link - that's going to cost the county £100 billion + just to save 20 minutes in a journey as well as causing untold environmental damage and hundreds of families to move home

I mean - hang on a minute Boris - I thought that the country was broke ?

Boris's main contribution to that particular SNAFU is simply not bopping it on the head. It was a Labour government project, with the route thrown as a hand grenade at the incoming tories. And that was back in the days when it was one-third as much money for more route...

50Twuncle

silverwhistle said:

John_ said:

I think that the tipping point for me to try again will be when I can do the 300 miles to my parents, in winter, with the heating on, at about 80mph on a single charge. Comfortably.

Hmm, can't be any of the motorways round here or near London or Brum, but even at 80mph that distance would be around 4 hours.

You obviously have a stronger bladder than I do and possibly a bit younger. I used to do Channel ports to Italy in a day but I wouldn't on my own any longer. Times change, and although my EV has a much smaller range I'm still tempted to try the trip when the situation gets better, hopefully next summer. If an overnight stop is required somewhere like Beaune a nice meal with a bottle of burgundy seems a reasonable compromise to me, although I appreciate some people find both compromise and change difficult.

I once did Edinburgh to Portsmouth in 5 1/2 hours in 1988