One incentive for driving an EV is that the fuel costs $0.02 to $0.04 per mile, which is the equivalent of paying only $0.50 to $1.00 per gallon of gasoline. Consumers are complaining about paying $3.20 per gallon right now, which in a 25mpg vehicle is $0.132 per mile. When gasoline gets to $6/g, even switching to a Prius will still cost you $0.133 per mile, and consumers will still be complaining.

One problem today is that the cost of the battery packs; at $0.13 per mile they are not cheap today. This is one place where volume will make a big difference. While oil and gasoline will continue to climb in price, putting more EVs on the roads would greatly reduce that $0.13 per mile. Since there is so little other maintenance in an EV (tires and brakes basically -- no filters, no oil, no transmissions, no belts), the EV is already cheaper to drive today despite the cost of the batteries, but you end up paying the $0.13 per mile up front in the form of batteries. Most people wouldn't want to purchase a a car with 150,000 miles of fuel. What is needed is a way to pay for the batteries incrementally. We need a business model where a company delivers KWH and battery services incrementally.

(The marginal cost of my EV fuel is actually much lower than $0.02 per mile quoted above, since it comes from the PV on my roof. Sunlight is my fuel. But I did not write the above with that assumption.)

So how difficult would it be be to design and run a small Battery Trailer to extend the Range and even add a Diesel if necessary to run the AC or use the waste heat in Winter,similar to the articulated Buses running for Years now in Europe.

Sounds good but if you do the math: 100,000 miles driven annually divided 150 miles per charge equals: 667 charges. Divide 667 charges by 364 days (let's give Christmas off :) and you get: 1.8 (let's round up to 2), so you need to charge the battery 2 times a day every day of the year.

Given that a taxi shift is generally between 8-12 hours: 8 hour shift plus 6 hour charge on the low end, that's 14 hours times 2 is 28 hours... Obviously that isn't going to work on a 26 hour day and is even less practicable on a 12 hour shift.

The only way it could work would be to change out the battery after each shift but we're not talking about 1 battery but a group of batteries in series weighing the stated 600 lbs.

I hate to say it since I myself want desperately to drive an electric car but until charge times are on par with gas fill up times, electric won't be able to compete on such an intensive level as city taxis.

I think that there should be several battery packs in the vehicle,.. they should be set up to where they can be switched from inside the vehicle by flicking a switch so it stays convenient. Why couldnt some of the "recharging" be done on solar power,.. either in the vehicle itself or recharging at a shop that provides solar power?

Hybrid Technologies is currently producing lithium PT Cruisers to serve as taxi units for Paratransit. This blog have various contains for future uses. Thanks for posting.
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