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'This will put the price of a taxi through the roof...' - Cabbies clash with council after being 'encouraged' to buy electric cars

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... gh-2304055

There are seven electric charging points in Newcastle-under-Lyme borough


Image: Stoke Sentinel

Taxi drivers have slammed a new policy which will see cabbies 'encouraged' to buy electric cars.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council’s draft taxi licensing policy for 2019/21 is encouraging private hire drivers to make the switch by allowing electric vehicles to be licensed up to 10 years old compared to the seven-year maximum age for petrol and diesel cabs.

And new hackney carriage applicants must buy a 'purpose-built hackney carriage' with wheelchair access or an electric vehicle which is less than three years old.

But cabbies say electric cars are currently too expensive and there are not enough charging points in the borough. Newcastle Hackney Carriage Association raised its latest concerns during a meeting at Keele Cemetery.

Association secretary Murtaza Alam said: “We have a lot of concerns over this suggested taxi policy. It will badly affect the taxi trade and result in a lot of extra financial burden on drivers and business.”

Association chairman Tariq Mehmood said: “If this goes through then it will put the price of a taxi through the roof. The council is encouraging us to change from diesel vehicles to electric but there are not enough charging points.

“The cheapest electric car on the market costs around £26,000, and an electric black cab is almost £56,000.

"The cheapest electric car has a range of 168 miles per charge - and an electric car takes around two hours to charge which would really cut into an eight-hour shift.

“If this goes through, it will cost a new driver at least £30,000, including insurance, before they even start.”

The council is currently running a 12-week consultation on the policy.

The council document states: “The council encourages and promotes the purchase of fully electric or hybrid vehicles to be licensed as private hire vehicles. Where possible the council will seek to implement a number of ‘plug-in’ points around the district which will be available for vehicle proprietors to use and also to actively target funding opportunities.”

There are five 'rapid' and two 'fast' chargers in Newcastle borough - with four of them at Keele Services. A 'rapid' charger can charge a vehicle in 20 to 40 minutes.

Councillor Stephen Sweeney, cabinet member for finance and efficiency, says drivers and firms will still be allowed to use cars with diesel or petrol engines.

He said: “The council has met with the taxi trade during the 12-week consultation and offered to organise a demonstration of an electric car which was declined.

“I must stress that the use of electric vehicles as private hire vehicles and hackney carriages is a proposed new option in the draft policy – drivers and companies can continue to use cars with petrol and diesel engines. Electric cars would be licensed for longer to help with purchase costs.

“Newcastle town centre, where a significant number of taxis operate, is one of four air quality management areas declared in the borough because of high nitrogen dioxide levels which is mainly from vehicles.”

I know it's up north, but surely even there they have plugs and electricity in their houses.

The government are givings millions and millions to councils to fund new charging points, so lack of charging points is only a short term problem.

The trade nationally should, IMO, stop f***ing moaning about electric cars and embrace them.

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IDFIMH

If only someone could suggest charging before and after a shift.

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IDFIMH

Don't know much about charging points, but nigh near impossible if you live in a block of flats, say.

And if you live in short-term, rental accommodation (say), then more difficult in that respect as well.

Councils can, for a relatively low price to them (often subsidised from central government) install charging points on any lamp post.

Surely they have lamp posts up north.

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IDFIMH

The point is councils have for years been running a policy of keeping fares as cheap as possible now they expect drivers to afford vehicles which are a LOT more expensive to buy on those fares

if the london boys are struggling to afford EV's on their fares how can drivers on half or a third of London rates afford them !!!!

Don't forget fares in Brighton are double what many of the rest of get

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they are switched off most of the time to save money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Remind me how much it costs to do a 1000 miles in diesel compared to electricity?

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IDFIMH

so which electric cars could do a 1000 mile round trip with just 5 min stops to refuel ?

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None, but you was going on about the cost, not the range.

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IDFIMH

The fact is councils have not invested in charging points and yet expecting cabbies to embrace electric cabs.even if we could afford one the infrastructure is not there.

cost of FIRST PURCHASE !!

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Yes, they've even got lampposts in Scotland these days

But in large parts of the towns and cities you're lucky to find as much as a parking space near where you live without a bit of hassle, and that's just during the day, never mind at 3am when a lot of drivers are knocking off (when most people are in bed asleep or at least at home, so more cars parked outside).

So even assuming every lamppost had a charging point (not going to happen) drivers would still find it a lot more difficult than at present.

As for people like me out in the sticks of Fife, I'm several miles from the nearest lamppost

Most people finance new vehicles via credit, so the initial and on going costs (if we take the lower costs of running the vehicles) will be on a par no matter what fuel you use.

And the whole point of this is to allow us all to breath a little bit better.

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IDFIMH

so how about getting all the school mums in their 3 litre range rovers to change they represent about 40 percent of the cars round here

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