Nottingham cabbie the first driver outside of London to purchase the new electric taxi

The new electric black taxi will be seen operating outside of London for the first time on Monday, when Nottingham cab driver Amer Alam hits the streets with his brand new TXE made by The London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC). Nottingham City Council are backing a new drive to bring the city's taxi service up to the new low emissions standards. Nottingham has over 400 hackney cabs, and hopes that they will all be operating one of the new TXE models or one of the Euro VI cleanest diesel models by 2020. The council has set out to purchase a small number of new Ultra Low Emission Vehicle models to lease back to some drivers, according to a report in the West Bridgnorth Wire . They will also be focusing their efforts on a £700,000 investment into a network of electric charging points. London has seen a small number of TXE models slowly filter through onto it's roads, with an estimated weekly savings of around £100 the offer could seem tempting, but there are still a number of concerns surrounding the batteries capability and the charging infrastructure in town. The price of the TXE is north of £50,000, and with the industry fighting to compete with the success of the ride-sharing phenomenon, it's still being seen as a huge investment for any cabbie to commit to.