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On Sunday 17 January,
Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool published an
amazing article about the possibility of Dutch cabbies driving
the iconic London taxi – but an electric version! While LTI has signed an agreement with electric vehicle maker Tanfield to make battery-powered taxis that are expected to be in production before the end of this year, they were said to be unlikely to go on general sale until 2010 – and that always assumes that the UK at least looks like coming out of the credit crunch. But according to Taxi Centrale Amsterdam director Bas Vos, 50 electric TX4s will be on the roads of Amsterdam this year. Last year he visited the LTI factory in Coventry and was apparently told of the plan for the TX4E. While many Amsterdam cabbies have an open mind about an electric London taxi, Bas Vos said he needed 30 interested parties and that he now has them. He is convinced he will succeed with London electric taxis and intends importing them himself, with fifty of them running along Amsterdam’s canal-lined streets by the end of the year. Currently the project is shrouded in secrecy, but the left-hand drive TX4E is expected to be revealed at Holland’s Auto RAI show in April. Call Sign has been told by sources in Holland that the driving mechanism of the |
Electric TX4s in Holland? |
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two rear wheels
will be carried out by two battery-operated electric motors that
are currently being developed in Germany and which are expected
to give around 150 kilometres before needing to be recharged.
That isn’t really enough for a full day’s work, so a
one-cylinder diesel engine has also been added as a generator
that can recharge the batteries while driving along. This
would increase mileage to around 200Km –125 miles. Overnight
charging would take around 6 hours, with so-called quick
loaders that are said to be able to do the job in 15 minutes
that it is hoped can be placed at taxi offices and possibly
ranks. However, long-time London drivers will remember the
problems with rank telephones that were constantly being damaged
by hooligans. What they would do with electric battery chargers
is anyone’s guess! Electric vehicles tend to be slow |
in pulling away. In fact one
Dial-a-Cab client who also uses cars, often insists on no
electric vehicles. However, the problem of poor performance is
said to have been solved with the Dutch TX4E acceleration said
to be almost that of the diesel version. Bas Vos says that once
Amsterdam’s taxi drivers see the TX4E, they will flock over to
it from their current Mercedes saloons. In early January, LTI’s Coventry facility welcomed Amsterdam taxi managers Marijke Vos (Bas’ wife) together with Tjeerd Herrema. Neither LTI or Taxi Centrale Amsterdam are saying anything. So the question has to be whether the TX4E is closer than we thought and of course, how much will it cost? We asked LTI and they claimed to know nothing about Mr Vos. Time will tell… Alan Fisher |
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