First London Hydrogen Taxis Built at Lotus; Fleet Road Trials in Time for the 2012 Olympics
22 February 2010
The Guardian.The first few hydrogen taxis being developed by a collaboration led by hydrogen fuel cell developer Intelligent Energy, and including Lotus Engineering Ltd, LTI (London Taxis International) Ltd and TRW Conekt, have been built at Lotus headquarters. The intention is to have a small fleet ready for full road trials in time for the 2012 Olympics. (Earlier post.)
The fuel cell taxi has a top speed of 81 mph, accelerates from 0-60 mph in 14 seconds and has a range of more than 250 miles on a full tank of hydrogen.
London’s deputy mayor, Kit Malthouse, announced last year that by 2012 there would be six hydrogen filling stations in the capital. He said he wanted around 20-50 taxis in operation by then as part of the Black Cabs Go Green programme, as well as 150 hydrogen-powered buses...After modification, he said no one would be able to tell the difference between a hydrogen cab and a regular one apart from the lack of diesel fumes.
Lotus Engineering is integrating the fuel cell, developed by Intelligent Energy, with the electric drive train and hydrogen storage system, bench-testing them, then integrating them back into a ‘buck’ vehicle and finally packaging the assembly into taxis for full vehicle testing.
I would like to see RTD shuttle buses here using CNG/diesel that is 10 times cleaner and cheaper to run. They are F350 platforms that could be converted easily. It is just the cost that stops them, so maybe the DOE/DOT could help out.
Posted by: SJC | 24 February 2010 at 10:46 AM