Electric Taxi Charging Installations for Councils

In early 2019, the UK government announced that over £6 million was to be set aside for councils to install EV charge points in their area to support the uptake of low emission and fully electric taxis. As of August 2019 over 2500 electric taxis have been produced by LEVC and 2000 are already on the roads in London alone. This funding is set to pay for the installation of nearly 350 new charge points (a combination of rapid and fast chargers) across 17 local authorities, and could potentially support around 4,000 ultra-low emissions taxis. The aim of installing the chargers is to support a mixture of new generation electric hackney cabs and private hire EVs, thus contributing towards meeting emissions targets and resulting in better air quality in our towns and cities.

Taxi operators are highly sensitive to running costs and are likely to be first-movers in terms of the adoption of cheaper, more efficient, greener vehicle technologies – as was the case with many taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) owners moving over to hybrid vehicles 10-15 years ago. Taxis and PHVs are also highly visible, and act as an exemplar to others to adopt electric vehicles, so installing EV charging infrastructure for taxis is likely to have a wider knock-on effect beyond the cars they service.

For local authorities wanting to install dedicated EV charge points for taxis in your area, there are a number of different options.

You can determine specific areas for dedicated taxi EV charge points, which are only accessible for EV taxi drivers. These could be in existing taxi ranks or waiting areas, in existing council-owned car parks, or in new zones set aside for this purpose. Rapid chargers are most likely to be used as they charge vehicles much faster, thereby minimising taxi downtime, as in this taxi scheme recently installed in Southampton.

You could also increase the total number of public EV charge points in your area that are available to be used by both electric taxi drivers and EV-driving members of the public. Fast chargers would be the cost-effective solution here, but wouldresult in longer charging times for the taxis.

Joju are experienced in helping local authorities complete the entire evaluation and implementation process, from initial feasibility reports, right through to the final installation of taxi EV charge points. We can offer assistance to any councils wishing to drive forward their low emissions taxi and public EV charging strategy.

We are brand-agnostic EV charge point specialists, so we can determine the best solution for your needs without being limited to using a specific manufacturer or product. We have significant experience in turning around public sector EV charging projects to the highest standards, even within tight deadlines.