Taxi Driver Online

No, you stay here and reply!


I do 150 miles a day, extra urban, saturdays all urban with no school run

which vehicle will seat 5 and save me money?

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Im happy to put on test any vehicle supplied FOC for 2 years

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Ok - only because you asked a genuine question.

Your scenario isn't a problem if you fit the criteria detailed at the beginning of the thread. You will need some support to use the vehicle with confidence (which I can help with).

The Basingstoke business case is

• 160 miles/day (urban and extra urban) using a Nissan Leaf
• 2 rapid charges a day
• expect to save (practically) £4,500/year compared to a good diesel.

The Nissan Leaf is a 5 seater and is the one that is currently being used by other drivers.
It is one with the lowest whole life cost that is reasonably sized.
It may still be possible to operate an EV if you don't fulfill the criteria but it requires more thought and commitment to make it work.

If you PM me your post code I can see if a rapid charger exists nearby or if one is planned.

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Independent electric vehicle consultant.
Helping private hire drivers save around £5,000/year in fuel bills compared to a good diesel.
Walking the talk since 1997.
Currently owns a 2011 Nissan Leaf that has done over 50,000 miles.

And mind tell him the times of day that it'll be free from other Leccy Warriors EV's on their mission to save the planet.

I cant see a Leaf being big enough for my needs but ill try a test drive in one and also an Ampera (which requires less charging)

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Well worth it.

A couple of tips

1) the range indication assumes you continue driving for remainder of the charge just like you did for 7-8 miles. So going from town work to motorway you may see a reduction in indicated range as it recalibrates itself. The range will also change a bit on hills for the same reason.

2) Keep this in mind when you approach the dealer. Once anyone gets in a modern electric car, they are almost always very impressed and a lot of their concerns about performance disappear. Therefore, by providing a local taxi service doing this for the dealers, you are effectively removing people's barriers to this type of car and more people are likely to buy one from the local dealer. Although I wasn't very successful at doing it (I got some way with "the leading from the front" but realised I didn't actually want to be driver), you might be able to negotiate a good commission on vehicles purchased because of your service or even get them to sponsor you depending on your local rules.

The Amperra is about £10k more expensive and you don't get the differnt in money back and still have the servicing of the engine, etc which is a lot less on pure electric (the drive train is maintenance free).

_________________
Independent electric vehicle consultant.
Helping private hire drivers save around £5,000/year in fuel bills compared to a good diesel.
Walking the talk since 1997.
Currently owns a 2011 Nissan Leaf that has done over 50,000 miles.

I cant work out where you come into the equation, we all want to dump IC engines, but for anything other than maybe school runs no suitable vehicle exists, ive a big car but today one shopper almost didnt get the weekly shop in the boot, what good is taking a peashooter to a gunfight?

if i only had a car for private use, 5000 miles a year id still not go electric, id buy a Rover P5 V8

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Spoken like a true Piston head

P5...classic

As my signature says I am independent electric vehicle consultant. I don't sell vehicles or equipment, but are engaged by businesses that want to benefit from the fuel saving and improve their sustainability credentials.

I am providing free support on this forum to build my brand and generally inform.

_________________
Independent electric vehicle consultant.
Helping private hire drivers save around £5,000/year in fuel bills compared to a good diesel.
Walking the talk since 1997.
Currently owns a 2011 Nissan Leaf that has done over 50,000 miles.

My Income comes from my passengers who use my services, that is rather obvious I guess, what is rather less obvious is just who are your Income generating clients with regards EV's, after all even an independent consultant requires an income source. Are you charging those PH operators that attend your various seminars or consultancies or are you services being paid for by the EV manufacturers themselves through EV sales generated, Or are you being paid for by some government or Local authority Green Initiative scheme in which case the Community charge Payer or Tax Payer is in part paying for your services.

Your not doing all this for nothing, Exactly who has hired you as a Consultant and who foots their bill?

In the interest of transparency it would be nice to let us all know who your paymasters are, at least then we can judge how partisan or not you are to either the Government, the EV manufacturer or the PH operators you are trying to convert to EV usage.

An answer would solve the equation question that wannabee seeks.

Taxi companies are just one type of business that I work with. I use a classic consultancy model and are therefore engaged by the businesses who pay a day rate for my services. I am a passionate leader in the field since 2007 and the only other form of finance is from my own savings and my software development company.

See my linkedin profile for more info about me.


Customers to date include

• Local SME fleet managers - for feasibility and deployment of EVs
• Private hire operators & drivers - to develop operational model of of EVs.
• Local authorities - definition of charge point strategy, business case generation and technical support on charge point installation projects.
• Car manufacturers - to provide EV related design requirements and provide user feedback
• Charge point suppliers - to develop charge point financing business models and provide general technical support.

and it is the above businesses that engage (and pay) me to complete short term specific work identified above.

Hope this helps.

_________________
Independent electric vehicle consultant.
Helping private hire drivers save around £5,000/year in fuel bills compared to a good diesel.
Walking the talk since 1997.
Currently owns a 2011 Nissan Leaf that has done over 50,000 miles.

You have just been Allan Sugared, your fired

As the Simon and Gurfunkel put it in "The Boxer" :



A bit like Local authorities and other Green heroes do..good luck.

Not really - unlike local authorities I am trying to actually do something about it within my scope of influence anyway. It took a over a year to get Basingstoke to update their regulations to allow Prius/Leaf sized vehicles At least they have agreed to install a rapid charger in the town center expected in Autumn.

Anyway, thanks for the wish of good luck.

_________________
Independent electric vehicle consultant.
Helping private hire drivers save around £5,000/year in fuel bills compared to a good diesel.
Walking the talk since 1997.
Currently owns a 2011 Nissan Leaf that has done over 50,000 miles.

I live in a little Village of a town and we, just prior to the Commonwealth baton passing through to great fanfare the LA stuck in a Rapid charger for all to admire..it's never been used, £75,000 they reckon it cost including installation, it makes for a very expensive spider sanctuary, the council did buy some small EVs for HQ's social work needs but like everything out here in the sticks every where is miles apart so they never get used...so after having both a Rapid Charger and 3 Vehicles in the region neither of which are being used, then it really hacks me off at the waste of our community charge money that these things have become.

I guess one rapid Charger for a Basingstokes 80,000 population makes more sense than our rapid charger for a population of under 1800 people.