Green Taxis: A Big Step in the Right Direction?

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The world of taxis could be changing for the better in a big way very soon. While professional drivers are already saving money through LPG gas, low deals from Staveley Head taxi insurance and better driving techniques to lower fuel consumptions, an entirely new generation of taxis is emerging that could seriously work in the environment’s favour, making cities and towns cleaner in the process.

fuel cell green taxiIt all looks set to take off at the Olympic Games in 2012. With 18 months to go before the start of the greatest show on earth, Intelligent Energy announced that it was running a taxi cab that uses hydrogen fuel cell technology that may be released in time for the Olympics, and it didn’t lose any of the popular characteristics of the standard London black cab – in fact, it retains the shape completely, as the technology is simply fitted under the bonnet.

The firm estimated that the fuel cell taxi would have a modest top speed of 81 mph, take 14 seconds to hit 60 mph and would have a range of over 250 miles on a full tank of hydrogen – an excellent array of features.

The new taxi does not produce any emission and also has the added bonus of taking mere minutes to fill once more – a massive amount of time saved when compared to the hours needed to charge an electric car.

Commenting on the developments, Intelligent Energy’s Henri Winand told the Guardian that the infrastructure required to run a hydrogen-based transport system is marginal, and could be established quickly and effectively. “With fleets you can deploy a little infrastructure, which you can build up with the more fleets you have, rather than going straight to consumers who might be wondering where the next filling station is,” he said.

The benefits are clearer to all. Taxis will be able to run at a much cheaper cost, meaning that customers can continue to afford journeys after years of having prices dictated by increasing fuel levies and inflation.

Larger profits will be reaped by companies embracing the new technology in a much shorter term than they may believe – the initial investment in such vehicles would be compensated by low fuel costs, less down time at filling stations and better rates of taxi insurance. CO2-related charges, which are increasingly being rolled out across the UK and Europe, would also not apply.

All-in-all, 2012 stands to be a great year for carbon-neutral technology – so long as people understand the benefits of it, it’s almost certainly going to prove popular.

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