Historical note:
the word 'Station Wagon' comes from the time when taxis which serviced customers at the train station...and all their luggage, needed something more than a passenger car. The Station Wagon needed the heavier truck chassis. Todays 'station wagons' are little more than hatchback sedans. Todays SUV style taxi most closely resembles yesteryears 'Station Wagon', and in the context of hauling lots of luggage for travellers, is not inapropriate. Needing that luggage is another matter...and it is arguably better to ship the luggage ahead of time via UPS or FedexGround and avoid having the train/plane authorites ruin your luggage.

As aside context, a 'Shooting Brake' is a hatchback sports car for the wealthy shooting enthusiast...IMO these look stoopad! I'll stick with my MINI Cooper (or bike and bus) and not carry guns in it.

Ick - Ford? They couldn't get Priuses?

I wish someone would get bright enough to make a hybrid minivan. They would corner the taxi market in the states, because they are built for heavy loads, easy access, many riders, expansive cargo room, and they handle better than truck-based suvs.

Many cabdrivers nationwide have already switched to conventional minivans, simply because the cost of gas comes right out of the driver's pocket, and a good minivan can get 50% better mileage than the Crown Vic's, which are best suited to be high-speed battering rams, which is why the police buy them. The patrol officers don't pay for the gas themselves, so it's more easily ignored.

even the mini-SIV Escape freaks me out- combining a stereotypically insane taxi driver with a high center of gravity just seems like a recipe for disaster. Bring on the hybrid Ford 500s.

a hybrid 500 would definately make a great taxi. It amazes me that hybrids aren't more heavely marketed towards taxi drivers I thought the prius would unseat the crown vic years ago despite its lack of room comparitively. The escape is definately the best suited hybrid right now. it would be nice to see honda offer an odyssey hybrid though

The Empress Taxi company in Victoria, British Columbia has switched to hybrids, apparently to the tune of 90% of their fleet.

well nyc has a hostory of "green" taxis (not as green as that bicycle guy). Ford's Crown Victorias with CNG usedto be sold for yellow cabs $3500 cheaper than regular unleaded crown victorias.. and thats going back at least 5 years...

Thanks Anonymous for that well thought out, "gotta take a shot at detroit" post. Ford is doing some good stuff. The Fusion and 500 will both have hybrid versions in a coupe of model years. The Escape makes a better taxi than a Prius from a cargo space standpoint. If we were just moving people then the Prius would be fine but since many people travel with luggage well there you go.

Too many people here give some automakers points over others. Honda had the first modern hybrid but Toyota gets the lions share of prise. Have you seen the size of some of their SUV's? Some here scoffed at GM's E85 campain but who's jumped on the bandwagon now, Toyota of all people. Sill think it's dumb? Yes many auto makers (all of Europe and most of Japan as well as Ford, DC and GM) have been slow to get with the hybrid program but they're like a supertanker they take a long time to change direction. Product developement cycles take years. How would it be if they rushed some half baked hybrids to market and the systems failed, it would be all over the new and people would get poisoned to hybrid cars. Detroit did it with diesel cars 25 years ago, they were half baked and broke down so a whole generation was poisoned to them.

"The Escape makes a better taxi than a Prius from a cargo space standpoint. If we were just moving people then the Prius would be fine but since many people travel with luggage well there you go."

The vast majority of taxi runs in New York are people-moving trips with very little cargo. The Prius has 2.3 inches more legroom than a Ford Escape and only an inch less than the Crown Vic. So, from a normal use standpoint (and considering that most New Yorkers aren't fat), then the Prius is probably a better choice in terms of a taxi - if space is the consideration.

SUVs have a niche, but it's small.

Slight little glitch in the machinery, the NY Taxi Commission will NOT tell you what cab companies own and operate these hybrid cabs, so unless you happenstance to step into one, you can't, as a green consumer, request one over the phone for example... which is little annoying to me. What I'd like to see personally are Scion xB cabs, because they are the most comfortable ride in the world, reminescent of the black London taxi cabs. It's been suggested to Toyota... they are not yet warm on the idea. A cab company in Chicago wanted to set up exclusively with Scion xBs... but Toyota wasn't supportive. They don't want the xB to become utilitarian, yet that's exactly what's happening to the vehicle, people are buying them for small delivery businesses.

I'm willing to bet that the Prius has more useful room for junk in the trunk than an Escape. Plus the back seat is so cramped. So few cars or trucks are designed for good rear seat access and comfort.
Screw Ford, Toyota and any other regular car. We need London Taxis, which are designed to be people and cargo haulers from the start:
http://www.ltna.com/index02.htm
They've been selling them for some time in North America.

Remy,

Funny you should say that.

We're organizing a 'green vehicle' show here in Chicago this summer, and we found a Chicago taxi company that already has xB's in the fleet. The trick is that the drivers own their own cars, but work for the parent company as a contractor of sorts (thus the incentive to get efficient vehicles).

Also, the same company is working on a software, to be used by the dispatch office, which will allow customers to request which type of vehicle they prefer to ride in.

CARL!!!! When's the show? I wanna attend!! (Maybe I'll even bring one of my BANNED IN NORTH AMERICA awesome electric scooters?)

oh and hey REMY!! do you have any info kits left from that killah battery symposium? any video?? and hot tips??? was it like the AABA shows?

Need details on this Chicago area green vehicle show. I don't yet own a green vehicle but would love to attend.

Easy, there, don't book a flight just yet. It's not gonna be like a big carshow, we're just gonna have a sampling of the options out on the market, from bicycles up to a hybrid bus.

It's just a one-afternoon exhibit, followed by a Green Drinks and a panel discussion on eco-transportation.

It's slated for August 15, downtown (location TBD). We're shooting for starting the exhibit at 4, and then mosey on inside for the discussion at 7, then doing the Green Drinks thing till 9-10.

I would like to show an exceptional electric scooter, seeing as I despise all the 2-stroke nasties that have flooded the town!

Carl, my phone is at the bottom of remyc.com, please call me. I'll be in Chicago at Quimby's May 12th. Driving down to Joliet May 13th. it's all on thebox66.com I'm doing the drive in an xB, selling chargers all the way down 66 to LA. I'd like to set up a photo op with all these xB cabs and my xB. Can we set that up?

Carl, my phone is at the bottom of remyc.com, please call me. I'll be in Chicago at Quimby's May 12th. Driving down to Joliet May 13th. it's all on thebox66.com I'm doing the drive in an xB, selling chargers all the way down 66 to LA. I'd like to set up a photo op with all these xB cabs and my xB. Can we set that up?

wow. carl, i'd love to attend that! (it's right after ">energy2006 also in Chicago

EC, your links don't work, and I can't find an email address on your blog - it's a bit user-hostile.

Click on my Typekey and send me an email, willya?

Cheers

Cool! Let us know when the Chicago event happens, we'd love to get Chicago-area folks together! nick at treehugger

What I don't understand about all of this is why we don't have small utility vehicles (the only "s.u.v." I'd ever own) in North America? They're all over the place in Europe and Asia, yet they don't seem to market them here. Why not?

Here's the link to the event in Chicago:
http://www.foresightdesign.org/events/
Just scroll down to August. The info will be updated as things are aggregated.

We've already booked some cool stuff, such as Chicago's only Twike owner and her trusty carriage: www.twike.com
and the Rat Patrol, who make cool freekbikes:
http://www.geocities.com/RatPatrolHQ/

Eric, they have always been around, but the automakers prefer to make them bigger, so they can charge more, and because most SmUV's (pronounced 'smoooves') historically fared poorly in crash tests.
in the '50-60's, US delivery vans were still 'cab-forward', or Snub-Nose, with the engine between the front passengers, and lots of room in the back. They weren't very big for US standards, not much bigger than the VW bus was at the time. But I think the insurance companies nipped that in the bud when they saw the crash tests, and realized that more and more folks were buying them as family trucksters.
We even have a few US companies, such as Cushman and Baker, who have always made them, but they are commonly not street legal (in the US), and never allowed to be passenger vehicles.

The Japanese SmUV's have been available here for decades, but only as service vehicles for parks and such.
The closest thing we've seen on streets lately is the Scion xB, which meets all the criteria - tiny outside, roomy inside, great mileage, lower emissions and all that good stuff.

Ford would dominate the taxi market if they would just make a hybrid version of the Crown Victoria. They could reduce the weight to make it more efficient as well. There would be almost no reason for taxi companies to stick with the old models... same car, same inside area, but double the gas mileage.

Taesty,

Actually, Crown Vics are that way because the police are the primary buyers. A large portion of the taxis are bought from police auctions, so the Vics are primarily designed for the Police and government fleets.

Thus, it was not designed to be a taxi, so it makes a poor taxi. Nowhere else will you find taxis that are so large compared to the useful space inside.

In the 70's the Met asked every carmaker to independently redesign the taxi, and nearly all the resulting designs looked like ....a minivan.

Rumor has it that Chrysler developed the Caravan with the full intention of capturing the taxi market. It didn't happen as fast as they were hoping, but minivans are now the second most common type of taxi you'll find in the US.

There are a handfull of lexus hybrid taxis on the street now. Taxi drivers liek SUVs because they are more agresive and higher up. This is a bad thing, but the escape hybrid means that taxi drivers can have their cake and use less gas too. Npow if only we could take away their horns.

does anyone know how many hybrid taxis are in NYC now? the last article that mentioned a number said there were only 6 but that was a while ago. also, i noticed that the list of approved hybrids included the prius and others.... so is the choice to go with the escape just happening on the ground (by the buyers)?

I'm not sure how many hybrid taxis are currently on the street, although I hope it's a considerable number by now. I am a full supporter of hybrid taxis (doesn't it seem like a no-brainer?)However, on page 25 of the 5/12/06 NY Post, there was an article which, if I read it correctly, said that all new taxi medallions must be used with hybrid or wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Has anyone confirmed this?

if this is true an aditional 900 new medalions are being auctioned this year.