Zero-Emissions Fuel Cell-Hybrid Taxi Unveiled at London's City Hall

Zero-Emissions Fuel Cell-Hybrid Taxi Unveiled at London's City Hall

By Scott Doggett June 8, 2010

Intelligent Energy, Lotus Engineering, LTI Vehicles and TRW Conekt, with funding from the U.K. government, this week unveiled a full performance, zero-emissions fuel cell-hybrid London taxi.

While the taxi looks and drives like an iconic London black cab, the Fuel Cell Black Cab is powered by an Intelligent Energy hydrogen fuel cell system hybridized with lithium-polymer batteries that allow the vehicle to operate for a full day without the need for refueling.

Capable of achieving a top speed of over 80 mph, it has a range of more than 250 miles on a full tank of hydrogen, refuels in about 5 minutes and produces no emissions other than water vapor.

Later this year, Transport for London will start operating five hydrogen fuel cell buses, and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has committed to working with manufacturers to make all taxis operating in London zero tail-pipe emissions by 2020.

For the Fuel Cell Black Cab unveiled this week, Lotus Engineering packaged the full propulsion system and designed control systems to optimize performance of both the fuel cells and electric drive systems. TRW Conekt led the safety analysis program, including braking and steering systems, and LTI provided donor vehicles to assist with the structural modifications to the chassis of the taxis.

The first hackney-carriage licenses date from 1662 and apply to horse-drawn carriages that operated as vehicles for hire. The black cab that most people associate with London taxis was the Austin FX4, introduced in 1959. The model, with many modifications over the years, remained in production until 1997.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.