Taxi Driver Online

They surely weren't expecting them to switch in huge numbers unless they absolutely had to? But looks like they'll be mandatory by 2024. Then there will be a huge shortage of rapid charging points


Coventry cabbies buy just 26 electric taxis after £1.2million spent on city's charging points

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/ ... 6-23572533

Two years after a government-scheme ended, there are more rapid charging points in the city centre than electric taxis to use them

Just 26 cab-drivers bought electric taxis in Coventry in the two years after a £1.2 million investment in rapid charging points. Thirty-nine of the charging stations - necessary for electric taxis out on a busy day of jobs - were installed in the city between 2018 and 2020.

Funding for the charging points came from the government's Ultra-Low Emission Taxi Scheme, set up in 2015 with £20 million available for local authorities to bid on. But as of 2022 there are still more charging points than e-taxis driving around to use them, according to the council.

Figures on uptake of the vehicles in Coventry were revealed in papers for the council's Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board, which met on Thursday (31 March). At the meeting, councillor John Mutton told the group that the switch to electric taxis is too costly for drivers he has spoken too.

The Labour councillor for Binley and Willenhall said: "In the taxi service the cost of electric taxis is prohibitive." He called for more government grants to help drivers make the switch, saying: "I think we should be encouraging the government to put their money where their mouth is."

A £7,500 'plug-in' grant is available from the government for cabbies who buy specific models - the Dynamo Taxi or LEVC TX. But these purpose-built electric cabs cost well over £40,000 to buy new, and only slightly less second-hand.

Last year there were 4,000 electric taxis operating in London after TfL made changes to licensing, meaning new licenses could only be given out to zero-emission capable vehicles. The authority also set up a dedicated fund to help drivers get rid of their polluting petrol vehicles.

Similar licensing changes are also on their way to Coventry. By 2024 the city made famous as the producer of the London black cab will only renew licenses for its hackney cab drivers with zero-emission vehicles.

New applicants will be required to have low-carbon vehicles too.

Colin Knight, Director of Transportation and Highways at the council, said at yesterday's meeting that he took Councillor Mutton's comments on board. "Cost is a barrier," he admitted.

He said there is an expectation that as the second-hand market grows, more used vehicles will be available at lower prices. The council must also tread carefully with its offers to taxi drivers, he added.

The Coventry trade must be a very strange animal indeed, at least if this comment is anything to go by

Which will go hand in hand with a huge shortage of cabs.

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IDFIMH