London’s black cab fleet are still running their zero-emission capable (ZEC) vehicles on petrol despite Transport for London’s (TfL) green vision for the trade. The LEVC TX model, capable of producing zero emissions, was introduced to the drivers in 2018 by the London EV Company following TfL’s new regulations on newly licensed cabs needing to be ZEC.
However, the high cost of public charging and inconvenience of spending an hour immobile to publicly charge has led to drivers filling their cab with petrol to address these issues. Gary Thatcher, 48, who has been driving the TX cab for three years, said: “The cost of public charging and time to charger the vehicle is why I just fill it with petrol.
“It is an to take you an hour out of their work to publicly charge. If you don’t live in a high rise flat, or accommodation that cannot charge from home, you will just use petrol.”
The Kent resident said in the three years he had driven the ZEC cab, he had never used public charging and had always filled his car with petrol. He added: “The narrative is let’s get everything green, but the whole thing is rubbish. You are just moving the pollution to somewhere else in the world.”
In 2018, TfL introduced new licensing requirements for new cabs to be ZEC to phase out the older diesel cabs. The LEVC TX cabs are a hybrid range-extender electric vehicle, meaning they can run on electricity alone but have a gasoline engine to extend the range of the vehicle when the battery has been depleted.
By the beginning of 2025, 60% of London’s black cabs were ZEC and the capital had more than 21,000 public charging points, around a third of the UK’s provision, according to TfL. The average cost of home charging an EV is 6p per mile, cheaper than the 14p per mile for a combustion engine vehicle.
‘Financial burden’ on ‘low hanging fruit’ cab drivers
But for public charging, the average cost is higher than petrol/diesel at 17p per mile, according to data from Zap-Map. Steve Garelick, a trade union officer at GMB Union, said: “If drivers want to earn a living, then they aren’t going to want to sacrifice some of their shift to charge their vehicle.
“With the high cost of public charging, it doesn’t make a difference if you fuel your cab with petrol or electricity. Even if a driver can charge their vehicle at home at a cheap rate, it will still be expensive if they work at night and charger their vehicle at a home during the day.
“This is not just unique to London, but nationally drivers lack the infrastructure requires. We want to see a healthy London, but it has to be well thought out. There is a financial burden on cab drivers, who are considered low hanging fruit.”
TfL want taxi drivers to back Mayor’s ‘bold’ 2030 plan
A TfL spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring Londoners can move around the city as safely, sustainably and efficiently as possible, and recognise the important role that taxis play in supporting the Mayor of London’s bold ambition of a carbon net zero capital by 2030.
“In 2023 TfL wrote to the previous government calling for the reduction in VAT to 5 per cent for public charge points to match domestic charging rates, recognising the impact of these costs on key user groups of London’s EV infrastructure, including taxis and private hire vehicles, and for those without access to off-street parking.”
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