FULL CHARGE OVER £9: Heathrow Airport electric taxi chargepoints unlikely to now DECREASE in price
Updated: Mar 20, 2022
Electric taxi chargepoints located at Heathrow are unlikely to drop below its current £9 prices for a full charge say taxi representatives.
Taxi drivers working the Heathrow Airport taxi rank have long called for the price of charging to decrease to levels similarly found outside of the airport in London.
The high cost of charging at Heathrow had seen the rapid chargers lie largely unused, as drivers opted to run the new LEVC TX electric taxi off the petrol ‘extended range’ system within the vehicles.
Currently there are seven chargers available to accommodate the growing number of cab drivers supporting the move to cleaner vehicles and also servicing the airport. The chargepoints are 50kWh rapid chargers at a unit cost of approximately £25,000 each.
According to sources, Heathrow received a £165,000 grant from the capital’s transport regulators Transport for London (TfL) to support the installation of rapid chargers in the taxi feeder park.
A Licensed Cab Drivers Club (LCDC) spokesperson said that the price of charging is now unlikely to drop due mainly to the rapidly increasing price of energy.
An LCDC representative said in The Badge: “In 2021, Dan (Dan Chaquico, Heathrow Airports Account Manager) said price was likely to come down from Jan 2022. It was around £9+ for a full charge at Heathrow against £5 on a street charger (BP Pulse) elsewhere.
“Changes endorsed by the CAA means the costs could have been halved. However, BP (amongst others) is now nearer £9 due to the increase in price of electric, so we’ll be lucky if the price just remains unchanged.
“Drivers want to charge their taxis whilst waiting – we need a system where drivers can charge their car and not lose their place in the queue.”
