The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced funding of GBP1m to trial low carbon technology in London’s taxi fleet.
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Funding for the project comes from Transport for London (TfL), through its climate change fund, and Cenex, the UK’s national centre of excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies.
As part of its carbon reduction strategy, TfL’s Public Carriage Office is keen to work with vehicle manufacturers to introduce taxis with lower fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The funding will be used to introduce a low carbon taxi demonstration project in London and vehicle manufacturers will be asked to register their interest in supplying the cars.
Cenex said that suitable low carbon technologies might include stop-start or ‘micro-hybrid’ technology. London’s taxis spend about 40%of their time waiting at taxi ranks, at traffic signals, or waiting to pick up or drop off passengers. A micro-hybrid tax could reduce CO2 emissions by 10-15%, said Cenex.
David Brown, managing director of surface transport at TfL, said: “We are committed to reducing the impact of public transport on the environment, and have already taken significant steps to clean up emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxides from the taxi fleet. Now it’s time to tackle carbon dioxide emissions.
There are over 21,000 taxis in circulation in London.”
Robert Evans, CEO of Cenex, said “Cenex is looking forward to working with TfL to procure and trial innovative low carbon vehicle technology in London taxis. We believe this project will attract a great deal of interest from both consumers and the motor industry.”
