Hydrogen Hybrid Fuel Cell Taxis Ready For London 2012 Olympics
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden 
on 06.17.08
A fleet of hybrid fuel cell taxis is on the drawing board for London's 2012 Olympic games. The project, driven by Lotus Engineering, London Taxis International (LTI) and Intelligent Energy, is to design a hydrogen-fueled fuel cell to be mounted inside LTI's current T4 taxi design, with the fuel cell providing electricity to the wheel-mounted electric motor.
The specs call for the taxi to run all day without refueling, have a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour and enjoy faster braking than gas-fueled cars. Critics of the taxi project say that the UK government should instead invest in extending Metro lines out to the east and southeast parts of the city, buying clean fuel cell or hybrid buses, and building an under Thames tunnel to ease traffic congestion. (Some money is coming from a £23 million government fund for low-carbon vehicles.) Lotus Engineering also received grants from that fund to come up with a "green" hybrid gas-electric limo based on a Jaguar. Interesting to know: will the low-emitting hydrogen Taxi have to pay carbon fees? Via ::AutoSpectator
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Ehm, Ken Livingston is not mayor anymore ...
... anyway, London need new hybrid black cabs but why go fuel cell?
----- author reply -----
thanks for the update. I think the rationale for a hydrogen fuel cell was that it would be zero emissions.
Talk about a bad idea!
Such a cab would cost, being generous, 500,000 pounds each.
For 25,000 pounds you get a NEW Prius and OEM plug-in hybrid with easily a 50km+ range in EV mode.
So for 23 million pounds - 46 Hydrogen taxis or 920 Prius PHEV taxis?
Actually making a hybrid bus - diesel / electric, would be a much better use of 23 million pounds, considering the lifetime of buses versus cars.
In the U. S. we call that corporate welfare, when the government gives a manufacturer a lot of money to make something we don't really need.
Someone just had a favor returned.
It would have made more sense to buy a Honda civic that runs on natural gas, or convert to an all electric car, because hydrogen is made from natural gas or electricity, so my suggestion would eliminate the inefficient conversion process.
sigh.
If you know London you would understand that black cabs are an icon, they just can't be replaced with any other car. However, hybrid black cabs would be a no brainer, since everyone knows the life cycle of a cab is ideal for hybrids. Fuel cells are just hype at the moment.
I'm not surprised by this. London must realized that cabs drive too many miles a day to be all electric. A fuel cell is probably the only other emissions-free vehicle they could think of. Of course, emissions-free depends on where the hydrogen is coming from.
But once again, it is much easier to clean up power if it is on the grid. Rooftop solar and small wind can contribute greatly to meeting home and office energy demands, for both buildings and for hydrogen & other fuel production. But industry, as well as large truck and ship fleets, need large-scale industrial power. So let us hope England puts as much effort into making sure its hydrogen is being made by a clean mix of power, since that will have tremendous spillover effects in cleaning up all energy usage.
I agree with the critics: what were these officials thinking? They just missed a great opportunity to develope the only sustainable form of transportation - mass transit.
Beijing has 5 lines currently in operation will have 19 lines and 561 km of tracks in operation by 2015. I mention Beijing because of the Olympics. I could point out many other cities, aka many in Japan.
Treehugger is way too lenient on the internal combustion engine. Stop feeding false hope that you can drive (or eat meat) and call yourself an environmentalist.