Black cabs go electric
London Taxi will invest $400m in turning the fleet of black cabs electric, according to a report in the Economic Times.
President of the company Peter Johansen says the money will be spent as part of an overall transition away from diesel, which is hoped will go some way to cleaning up air quality in London. Smog in the capital is understood to cause up to 10,000 premature deaths each year, and new mayor Sadiq Khan has made cleaner air quality a priority.
Peter said, ‘There’s a general recognition of the need to improve air quality. Clearly electric vehicles are the way of the future for urban situations.’
He said that electric or hybrid cabs will be on the streets from 2018, although he wasn’t able to say how much they would cost in relation to traditional black cabs.
