Taxi Driver Online

Why you could soon be whizzing around Coventry in an electric taxi

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/ ... d-14846240

The city's cabbies are being offered the chance to switch to the clean machines in a bid to banish air pollution

Coventry's cabbies will be offered the chance to test-drive an electric taxi in a bid to get them to ditch their old petrol and diesel motors.

Coventry City Council is working with electric taxi company Electric Blue to offer the switch and get taxi drivers to make the permanent move to battery power and help lower air pollution in the city.

It comes as a charging point for electric vehicles was installed in Hales Street in the city centre .

The trial is set to start this month, although the exact date is yet to be confirmed.

Cash savings

The charger company said a driver could save £3,000 a year by switching to an electric taxi.

That is based on a driver doing 30-35,000 miles, and an EV being 10-12p more cost effective per mile.

The Government has pledged an all-electric transition by 2040.

Bigging up the benefits

Alex Calnan, Electric Blue’s Managing Director, said: “For many people, driving an EV is too much of an unknown and in the taxi space drivers just haven’t been in an EV and so they don’t know the benefits.

“Following other successful trials in Watford and St Albans, we’re offering Coventry taxi drivers an opportunity to step out of their petrol or diesel vehicle and try a fully-licenced EV taxi from Electric Blue for a couple of weeks to see if we can convert them into a new way of thinking.”

The charging point



The Hales Street charge point has an eVolt rapid 50kW Raption charger, featuring triple AC/DC outlets and locking plug holsters.

It is suitable for charging all rapid-charge-enabled EVs.

The construction of the Raption charger means that, in the unlikely event that one rectifier should fail, others remain operational so the taxi drivers will always have access to a charge.

Training provided

For drivers taking part in Electric Blue’s Coventry scheme, training is provided beforehand so that they know how to operate the zero emissions Dynamo Taxi and the EV charge points.

Electric Blue will also remain on hand to support the taxi driver throughout the trial.

Mr Calnan added: “We want the drivers to trial an EV taxi with confidence so that we can persuade them that converting to electric is a sensible and financially sound option - an essential part of giving these drivers confidence is also giving them access to reliable charging technology, which is why we are partnering with eVolt.

“We know that the reliability of the charging infrastructure is imperative for any EV driver, but even more so when we are trying to persuade taxi drivers to convert.

"Their income is dependent on time on the road so they want to know that an EV charger is always going to be operational. eVolt has a fantastic track record and we have never experienced a technology failure with any eVolt charger.”

My sarcy headline perhaps means that this piece hasn't got the attention it deserves

But it's as much about an LEVC trial as the charging point.

There's an interesting wee video of the first driver in Coventry to get an LEVC, and he gives a journo a trial run.

The driver is announced as Reginald, but when he appears he's not quite what I was expecting. Wonder if his pals call him Reggie

I was at a meeting a few months back when we discussed adding loads of new electric charging points, and suggestions on fast chargers.

This was after someone told them that current electric charging points were not fit for purpose.

Came away from the meeting impressed and looking positively looking forward.

Council are proposing half a dozen fast charging service stations, that will charge 80% of cars in about 15/20 minutes.

Further down the line, and in respect of taxi ranks, there was talk of trialing wi-fi electric charging, which if successful would solve a lot of problems for charging hackneys.

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