It wasn't too long ago that
next-generation taxis were being demoed at the NY International Automobile Show, but unless those roadsters sport gas sipping hybrid engines, they won't survive past 2012 in the Big Apple. Reportedly, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered that every last one of NY's
taxis operate on
hybrid engines by 2012 as a part of an obvious plan to reduce emissions in the state. Once the transition is complete, Bloomberg noted that it would be the "largest, cleanest fleet of taxis anywhere on the planet," but considering that only 375 of the approximate 13,000 licensed taxis are currently in compliance, we'd say they've got a long ways to go. Currently,
NYC has approved nine gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles for use as taxis, and while it has yet to be set in stone, officials are purportedly looking into extending the hybrid initiative to encompass garbage trucks and buses.
[Via
CNET, photo courtesy of
MashedPeas]
posted May 23rd 2007 8:32AM
"global warming" is starting to get expensive and stupid.
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4499562022478442170
Stop posting fictional videos.
Glad they are doing this. Even IF global warming is a myth, this help to reduce LOCAL pollution levels. It's a win-win situation.
YOu are an idiot.
Boston's fleet now has had a substantial addition of quite a few hybrid Camry's.........in fact that's mostly what I see now
2012? Those lazy bastards...
Actually, I think that 2012 may be premature. Believe it or not folks, hybrid technology, though originally released by Toyota in 1997, is still in its infancy.
If individual consumers want to move to the nascent technology right away, more power to them. Their purchases will foster R&D budgets which will improve the technology and will help to bring overall costs down for the rest of us.
Moving fleets to what amounts to 1G or 1.5G technology is actually jumping the gun. Once the cab companies have dropped all of that money to upgrade their fleets to 1G technology, it will be much more difficult to force them to upgrade to 3G or 4G technologies when they are available. It is those generations of this technology that will have a significant impact on the fleet's overall emissions.
Heck, until we start seeing auto manufacturers testing their fuel economy in real-world conditions, we won't really know if the current hybrid technology is either more fuel efficient or cost effective. You can't tell me that putting your car on a dyno with a fan blowing on the radiator and a hose hooked up to the tailpipe and having it run at a constant 30MPG is even approaching real-world conditions. Give the cabbies fuel/mileage logs and a collect a few years of maintenance records and we'll see how those batteries hold up to NYC stop-start traffic and long idling. We'll also see how regenerative brakes hold up to repetetive slams as pedestrians step in front of the cabs on an hourly basis.
Now if you were to tell me that NYC wanted to launch a three year pilot study program to determine the real cost/efficiency benefit associated with hybrid conversion which covered a range of vehicles from different manufacturers, I'd be onboard. Once that pilot study was done, the manufacturers would have excellent real-world test data to learn from, the public would have a better indication of what these vehicles are capable of under pressure, and we'd be moving on to 2G technology which may actually significantly improve both the fuel efficiency and emissions output of those massive fleets.
Knee-jerk reactions just get someone hit in the nuts.
Thanks for your knee-jerk reaction chaosrain. Hybrids are already going into their 3G technology and have been well-proven on the road and in the field. There have been plenty of document of even one cabby in Canada with well over 200000 Km in, had the car stripped down by Toyota, and the parts where still practically new condition.
Knee-jerking because some of you don't understand that hybrids tend to be much more gentle on their parts than a standard car. You can't break down regenerative braking for instance because no physical contact, petro-engine is running practically only 50% of the lifetime, the electric motor's torque keeps the petro engine from stressing, and electric technology has been around longer than gas engines.
It's been in the real-world for years now. Wake up people. It's only win-win with hybrids.
This is great and all, but they way NYC cab drivers drive this isn't going to do much good. If you bang on the gas peddle (which they all do constantly) of a hybrid it just engages the motor. The only way this is going to make things more efficient is when they're sitting dead still in traffic and the motor is off.
True. But they do a lot of sitting too. I see the Camrys all over Boston and they're sitting at lights, completely silent. I think they'll spend a lot of time in potentially "idling" places, shut down instead...
I am a dirty fucking spammer: rbuccicone@gmail.com
you are mistaken about NYC being the most polluted city in the world, it is not even the most polluted in the US. 9th in fact according to a Forbes study. China's got us beat by a mile.
Ten Most Polluted U.S. Cities (Ozone Rated Only)
1. Los Angeles (Long Beach, Calif., Riverside, Calif.)
2. Bakersfield, Calif.
3. Fresno-Madera, Calif.
4. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
5. Merced, Calif.
6. Houston (Baytown, Huntsville, Tex.)
7. Sacramento (Arden, Calif., Arcade, Calif., Truckee, Nev.)
8. Dallas/Forth Worth
9. New York (Newark, N.J., Bridgeport, Conn.)
10. Philadelphia (Camden, N.J., Vineland, N.J.)
http://www.forbes.com/logistics/2006/03/21/americas-most-polluted-cities-cx_rm_0321pollute.html
And to all the people saying that this won't work because of the way cabbies drive, don't you think that this is at least a step in the right direction, and certainly won't hurt things. Especially when they are idling at stop lights. How can you say that this won't be good? Sure they won't see the full benefit, but it will sure as hell be an improvement.
Well it's nice to know about a glut of cheap ass used yellow crown vics in the NYC metro area available soon....
The way taxis drive the hybrids wouldn't save much mileage, you really have to drive slowly, especially when accelerating. If you jam the pedal down the gas engine kicks right in.
A hybrid Escape, pictured above, gets less than a fully gas powered Camry. The technology needs to get better.
This is not only friendly to the environment, but will help to increase the profit of the taxi services since the gas consume is lower.
There have been 18 Ford Escape Hybrid Taxis running in NY for over 175,000 miles. I would say the real world study has been done. They have saved an estimated $250,000 in fuel costs, in less than 2 years. I figure that out weighs the cost of maintenance and initial purchase price difference.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/04/03/ford-escape-hybrid-taxis-top-175-000-miles/
Also I would never buy a used taxis as it probably has 250k to 300k miles on it of hard city driving. Not to mention the smell.
a while back a law went into effect that the NYC cabs have to be changed every 3 to 5 years - meaning no taxi will be over 5 years old. The current Crown Victoria models get 14 miles per gallon. The hybrid ones will get over 30 miles per gallon. This is a win win situation whether you believe in Global warming or if you are an idiot or don't. NYC will save a ton of money on gas, their will be less carbon in the air and the cabbies love the idea of having to gas up less. Not too mention the cleaner air it will bring us. If you don't believe in Global Warming, or if you have never been to NYC (I live in the City), please don't comment on this story, You have no idea and no right to.
This is great news - the Crown Vics are horrendously inefficient, cramped and squallid looking. To make matters worse, they also have vomit-inducingly soft suspension.
The Ford Escape hybrids are much nicer: smoother ride, better view, more roomy (they don't have the ridiculous Travis Bickle-esque partition) and environmentally friendly...
Now if they can only replace the drivers with people who speak English and don't constantly talk on their phone.
Some other changes they need to make include not allowing trucks to deliver in the city between 9am and 7pm, charge non-Manhattan based cars a fee to drive in the Manhattan and teach people how to park without demolishing the cars around them, I'll be a happy camper.
Just what we need in NYC, a multi-million dollar, 3 year study that will tell us what we already know: Cabs spend a lot of time sitting idle in traffic, pumping fumes.
They will certainly burn less fuel, but that's not really the main point of all of this. It's mostly about lessening pollution.
Who cares if it's 1G tech? It has to start somewhere, and why would it be harder to upgrade to newer generations?? They don't drive these cabs for more than a few years, so what's the problem? You buy a newer model in 5 years, problem solved.
Taxi cabs in New York have a natural replacement cycle of 3 years as mandated by the taxi cab and limousine commission. Since every cab on the road today will need to be replaced at least once between now and 2012 there is no reason why they can't be replaced with hybrids.
"Extending the hybrid initiative to...garbage trucks and buses?"
Hm, like King County, Washington has been doing for a while with the largest fleet of hybrid buses, and just now ordering 500 more? Someone's playing catch up.
Doesn't that mean that cop cars will have to be hybrids, or are they going to stop recycling cop cars into cabs?
I went to a display of prototype taxis in NYC at MoMA about 30 years ago. The demise of the Checker cab and the use of large sedans has been a disaster ever since then. The first generation of minivans didn't last well at all under NYC pounding. Too bad there was no way to import London taxis...
I would expect that costs of operating a cab will increase substantially. Another commenter noted that cabs tend to be ex-cop cars and the hybrids will likely be purchased new - at least to start.
Hybrids will probably need additional repairs and those will be expensive. Batteries, regenerative braking systems, electronics - none of them can be hit with a hammer and improved.
Gas costs are usually paid by the taxi driver, who leases the cab from the owner/operating company. The owner won't benefit from reduced gas prices. This could be great for the cabbie, who will additionally benefit from not having to gas up during his shift, as long as the owner doesn't pass on the extra costs or use them to raise fees even higher.
A lot of the gas savings will come from having the engines off while waiting for fares. But the driver will be running their radios and heaters/AC while waiting, which may cause the engine to cycle on to keep the batteries charged.
It'll be interesting to see how all this plays out in the real world.
But hybrid vehicles don't necessarily have the best fuel economy, and isn't that the point?
two things you all need to know.
1. A nyc taxi drives drives 24 hours
a day 7 days a week. 365 days a year.
and most taxis do 12,000 miles or more a mouth.
2. nyc cabs are no longer used NYPD cars.
two things you all need to know.1. A nyc taxi drives drives 24 hoursa
day 7 days a week. 365 days a year.and most taxis do 12,000 miles or
more a mouth.2. nyc cabs are no longer used NYPD cars.