BYD and Green Tomato Cars have signed a memorandum of understanding to create London’s first-ever fleet of pure electric minicabs. The fleet, which will be 50 cars strong, will be made up BYD’s all-electric E6 models and will be supplied to Green Tomato Cars for trial use.
London-based minicab firm, Green Tomato Cars, plans to introduce the cars from the second quarter of next year.
The five-seat E6 taxi is powered by a 75kW motor and BYD’s own iron phosphate battery. This gives the car a range of 186 miles on a single charge and a top speed of 87mph.
BYD chairman, Wang Chuanfu, said: ‘‘We are delighted to supply Green Tomato Cars with E6 vehicles… The e6 has zero tailpipe emissions, so it avoids contributing to the city’s CO2 levels’’ .
London’s Mayor Boris Johnson said: ‘‘It is my aim that London’s minicabs and taxis will be zero-emission my 2020… so it's great news that Green Tomato Cars has committed to operating 50 of these super-clean machines from next year’’.
Sam Davis
