Shamelessly stolen from CleanMPG news.
Basically 15 San Francisco hybrid Escapes have been forced into retirement at 300k miles. They've saved drivers an average $9000/year and are still going strong, but law requires that cabs be retired from service at 300k miles no matter what condition they're in.
San Francisco's hybrid taxis prove their worth - Los Angeles Times
San Francisco's first 15 hybrid taxis, all Ford Escapes, have made it to about the 300,000-mile mark -- nearing the city's official taxi retirement age -- and are being taken off the road. Their longevity shows that hybrid technology is more durable than previously imagined; they also have saved drivers about $9,000 a year, depending on gas prices and number of shifts driven.
"Ford never really intended this vehicle to be used as a taxi," Gillespie said as he tooled around the city's hilly Pacific Heights neighborhood in the silent hybrid. "We adopted it because I was desperate to find a vehicle that would save drivers fuel costs and save greenhouse gas emissions."
The hybrid Escapes were introduced with fanfare at a City Hall news conference in February 2005, touted by Mayor Gavin Newsom as the nation's first fleet of hybrid taxis. Ten were owned by San Francisco Yellow Cab and five by Luxor Cab.
Today, 14% of San Francisco's 1,438 taxis are hybrids. Fifteen percent of New York's 13,237 cabs are, according to a spokesman for the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission, which just passed a hybrid incentive plan.
