Taxi Driver Online

Hello friends!
I am working on a project with one of the UK's biggest electric car manufacturers to launch the first fully electric firm later this year in central London. The vehicles cost about £1 a shift to run (and no fuel cost) and can go about 80 miles on a full charge. With that in mind it may be necessary to do a rapid charge (20 mins) at some point during the day to get an extra 60 miles range... then charge at home overnight for the next day (can just plug in to mains, but need to have a driveway unfortunately.... or do another rapid charge on the street).

The benefits are that running cost is low and other costs (road tax, congestion charge, parking) are less/non existent with fully electric vehicles.

I'd really appreciate peoples thoughts on this model... if anyone wants to chat or get involved in some way please let me know.

Thanks so much
F!!

ps. there is a little questionnaire here if you have a few mins to give me some feedback/info to help with the planning: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M79BCKC

Velo Taxis?

All folks really care about is how much.

And how many rapid charge places will there be?

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IDFIMH

No, not Velos - these are fully functioning 5 door cars.
Approximately £250 per week including the brand new car and radio rental (PDA) + insurance
What do you think?
Is anyone interested in finding out more?

I suspect drivers are more interested in what work you have got rather than the way the vehicle runs.

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IDFIMH

Not a lot of use to me, have just done 540 miles in the last 2 days! If I had to keep stopping to recharge(If one was available)it would have taken me 3 days!!!

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42 years now! and still going strong!

Not many London PH drivers on here perhaps he should try the AL drivers group if the cars are only £250 I'm sure a few of them will jump ship as long as there is some work

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Err....now build in the £25O per week you mention for the vehicle and your £1 a shift goes out the window, such a useless piece of Green technology would then be costing you more like a minimum £40 a shift and with it a potential practical mileage range of 80 miles, and in the Middle of winter with your Heater going, Air conditioning running to keep your windows from steaming up, your wipers going, your headlights burning pretty much all day long as the need to in our bleak and dark winters, you would be Lucky to get 40 miles per charge under these conditions.

Now...what passenger would be wanting to enter a vehicle that may or may not get them to their destination before it grinds to a halt, then add on the difficulty of cherry picking the only run of the day that you as the driver knows you can carry out without grinding to a halt on your 40 mile charge.

Now if your really really Lucky the Car will die next to a charging point, and if your luckier still your stranded passenger will be the head of the Local treehuggers group and who will see his Predicament as being a small price to pay for his and your crusade in saving the planet from the rest of us Piston Heads.

nope..sorry, you cant make a living from such an expensive small range vehicle, come back when you have a Vehicle that can do 300+ miles per day on a single charge in all driving conditions and all for the same price or less than a nice new modern Diesel car.

and more likely have taken you 6 days in the cold, Wet and Dark with everything draining your batteries leccy supply all at the same time.

Better still, go and get a load of the new skoda Octavia's, auto express recon the could not get there 2ltr diesel one to go below 50 MPG

Me, me, please can I be a slave, me, me . . . .

I think you may have the wrong forum - I am reliably informed that there are places that will fulfil your request however....

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Thanks for your feedback!
Ok so... the £1 is in relation to fuel cost (usually about £20 to £30 in petrol per shift)... the remaining £250 is for car hire, maintenance, tax, radio hire etc... all things which would need to be paid regardless. As for the range, the official reported range is 124 miles (we are using 80 as that was the number that came out from a real life pilot, in the middle of winter... with the heaters on and a full car!) - good observation still.

I'm wondering whether we could make this work with an 80 mile range if focusing on central london alone? most drivers i know are doing between 80 to 100 miles on average per day and take at least one 30 min break at some point (enough to recharge another 60 miles)... we will own our own charge points which will be located centrally for use of our drivers...

Is the need to do one 25 min charge a day going to be at all doable??

Thanks again all

Could you keep spare cars at base on charge for drivers to swap over, rather than waiting for them to charge up?

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