Over 40% of London’s cabbies will NEVER have capability to charge mandatory electric taxis at home

Over FORTY percent of London’s cabbies will NEVER have capability to charge mandatory electric taxis from home according to Transport for London data.

In January 2018 Transport for London (TfL) introduced new emission based licensing requirements for taxis. All newly registered taxis must be able to drive a mandatory zero emissions range of at least 30 miles to operate within London.

There are nearly 3,000 zero emissions capable taxis in the capital. Taxi manufacturers, London EV Company (LEVC), celebrated a record sales month in September with 352 taxis sold. This builds on month-on month sales growth since April this year.

However, not all drivers will have access to charging their vehicles where they live. According to a Taxi and Private Hire Licensee Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS), conducted by regulators TfL, nearly half (47%) of taxi drivers kept their vehicle at home on their driveway and a further 9% parked their taxi in a garage at home.

44% of those surveyed do NOT have the capability to install a home vehicle charging unit.

As part of October’s ‘Mayor’s Question Time’, London Assembly Member Keith Prince, asked Mayor Sadiq Khan: “The attraction for taxi drivers in deciding to purchase a new ZEC taxi is fuel savings and a significant factor in those savings is the ability to home charge. What studies has the Mayor conducted to identify the percentage of drivers with that ability?”

Sadiq Khan responded to the question by saying: “In the 2014/15 Taxi and Private Hire Licensee Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS), Transport for London (TfL) asked taxi drivers about where they parked their taxi. The results showed that 47 per cent of taxi drivers kept their vehicle at home on their driveway and a further nine per cent at home in a garage. These drivers should be able to charge a ZEC taxi at home.

“In order to support high mileage vehicles like taxis, and allow for rapid charging while working, the TfL Rapid Charging Infrastructure project is installing 300 rapid charge points by the end of 2020. As of 8 October 2019, 207 of these have already been installed, of which 73 are taxi dedicated.”