GREEN MEANS GO
SWITCHING TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES OUT OF THE QUESTION NORTH KESTEVEN CABBIES CLAIM
A lack of charging points and unafford- able prices are putting off cabbies from going green. The Lincolnite reports that several firms in North Kesteven have been asked if they were consider- ing switching to alternative fuel vehicles, such as electric or hybrid. However, they all consider the options to be too expensive, and say it’s cur- rently impractical in rural Lincolnshire. One driver said she wouldn’t be switch- ing any time soon as “the cost of purchasing an AFV would take years to pay back”. “The cost of electricty is sky high, so the long-term benefits are shrinking.”
Batteries for EVs cost about £4,000 and need to be replaced every 100,000 miles. She was also concerned about a lack of garages who knew how to repair them, and available batteries. “I have seen drivers elsewhere off the road for weeks due to no batteries in the country,” she told North Kesteven District Council in the consultation. Another taxi owner said he had done plenty of research, including test driv- ing several EVs, but claimed: “The driving range advertised by manufac- turers is difficult to achieve in real world conditions.” He also found alternative fuel vehicles
tended to be smaller, and didn’t have the luggage or foot space passengers wanted. “I tend to do longer journeys with larg- er numbers of passengers, there isn’t an AFV on the market yet that would meet my needs,” he said. The lack of charging points spaced across Lincolnshire was another com- mon complaint, particularly in rural areas. There were calls for taxi-only charging points to be put in to deal with over-subscription. The council report says a lack of inter- est means it will have to revisit the topic in the future.
CAMBRIDGE TAXI DRIVERS CAN DITCH DIESEL FOR HYBRID CARS AS COUNCIL RELAXES EMISSIONS POLICY
Taxi drivers in Cambridge will be able to use standard hybrid cars after Cambridge City Council agreed to relax its emissions policy. CambridgeshireLive reports that under the city council’s current policy, vehicles classed as ultra-low emission include: plug-in hybrid vehicles, and extended range electric vehicles. Zero emission vehicles include: electric only vehicles and fuel cell vehicles such as hydrogen. However, a report presented to a meet- ing of the city council’s Licensing Committee on Monday, 28 June, said that ultra-low and zero emission vehicles are becoming hard to buy. The report said: “In October 2016 members amended the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy to include a commitment to implement changes to increase the uptake of Ultra-Low and Zero emission vehicles, such as hybrid and electric. “However, due to Brexit and the pandemic and now with the crisis in Ukraine, such vehicles are becoming
JULY 2022
more difficult to obtain. “There is also a waiting period of up to a year to purchase these types of vehicles and therefore there is a need to build in flexibility into the policy to allow standard hybrids with emissions of less than 120g/km of CO2.” Some taxi drivers from the city spoke at the meeting in support of the plans to relax the emission requirements, highlighting the problems they have been facing. One driver highlighted how the cost of his vehicle had risen over the last few years, explaining that the car he bought in 2019 cost him £28,000, and that the cost has now risen to £36,000. Ahmed Karaahmed, the chairman of Cambridge City Licensed Taxis, said: “A few years back the council agreed that all city licensed vehicles should be electric or low emission, along with sil- ver livery and un-tinted windows policy. “All those changes doubled the vehicle cost for taxi drivers, it made it very
difficult to find suitable vehicles on the market, it narrowed our choices. “Of course after all of those new policies the world entered the pandemic and the taxi trade collapsed, our vehicles were parked in front of our houses for over a year. “After the pandemic working condi- tions were just about to improve and now the country is going into a reces- sion. Energy and fuel prices are soaring, diesel and petrol trading prices are already about £2 a litre. This is hitting the taxi trade very badly. I don’t know how long the taxi trade can survive in these difficult conditions.” Mr Karaahmed said he was grateful that including standard hybrid vehicles in the licensing policy was being brought before the committee. When put to a vote, the committee councillors unanimously agreed to the policy change. The change is due to be reviewed in 2024. The chair of the committee, Councillor Russ McPherson said the taxi trade in the city was “extremely important”.
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