Prius PHEV As London Taxi

oh boy, gc won't be happy about this.

 

He may be sleeping at this time of the day.

 

cabbies never sleep, they nap between clients. and sometimes during.

 

This very article has been discussed at length on the UK Prius forums.

It appears Toyota UK have a stock of about 180 unsold PIP's and are trying to get rid, so a sale of 80 will make a big dent. The 10-15 mile EV range of the PIP is not worth ****. It's not worth the time plugging in even at our petrol costs. The consensus of the UK forum was that a larger EV range is absolutely needed OR wireless charging at taxi ranks or similar will assist.

(The PIPs are not London Taxi's but London Minicabs or Private Hire. The ONLY taxi in London is the Black Cab by LTI or Mercedes)

 

i knew it!

 

lol, it's good to be predictable.

Copy n paste of my comment in the UK forum which explains why the PIP is of no use for that particular type of driving;

"Green wash PR.

I was a private taxi driver and ran the car 10-12 hours a day covering 30/35k a year which works out about 120/150 miles a day give or take. 10 miles EV is nothing. It's not worth bothering with other than maybe first thing in a morning. The extra cost and hassle of plugging in to get your 15 miles max isn't worth doing at any other time. And if you do plug it in twice a day that means nearly 700 times you insert and remove the plug. You'll need a new socket every couple years. Is there any other electrical appliance at home that you'd do that for?

I looked at the PIP before it was released and the high cost announced and it wasn't viable even at £1.40 a litre as it was back then. A plug in taxi/private hire is an ideal solution to cutting emissions, improving air quality and reducing costs so long as the electric range was useful. An Ampera would have been a good bet IF it had had 5 seats and a bigger boot.


So back to the article. It's greenwash fud - sorry."

Prius Plug In To Be Used In London As Private Hire Cabs - Hybrid / Toyota Prius - Toyota Owners Club - Toyota Forum

 

If otoh, the PiP HAD a bigger pack, your blended range could be well over 120 miles of range on one charge. That one charge could enable you to do around 70mpg/85mpg, turning on the drive. The rub is whether Toyota would rather keep pushing forward with the hydrogen money pit.

 

There's another Prius Forum???
....how quaint.

One World.
One Prius Forum!


I didn't bother with the article.
Did they have to paint them black???

 

i've been plugging in between 1 and 3 times a day for 940 days and zero issues so far. i really don't think that's a problem. it would be good if cabs had a place to charge while they are standing. is it the final solution? no, there was only one of those, thank God.

 

I think the real issue for cabbies and plugging in multiple time during the day will just in finding an outlet or charger to use. A single charge a day will increase the daily mpg number for the PPI, but then it comes down to how much more Toyota UK charges for it.

 

lol and as Toyota charge more for the base Prius than the Lexus CT200h, I'm not holding out much hope. In fact the cheaper Auris HSD base model is only £300 less than the Lexus hybrid.

Unless the gen4 is a game changer I fear my existing Prius will be the last Toyota of mine for a while. There are much better products out there today, including a Lexus badge

 

Wow ... that sure is a sad Toyota epitaph ... almost like their efficiency lead was a flash in the pan. I hope not.
.

 

depends more on how much london officials want to reduce pollution. maybe toy is holding out for more subsidies, seems to work pretty well over here.

 

Grumpy, you are jumping to conclusions as usual.

Let's rephrase the question in Cabbie language, meaning money:
Over the lifetime of a taxi, how much does every 10% substitution of miles by electricity save ?

Then,
What fees and taxes are saved by running a PiP rather than a competing car ?

Then,
What incentives or subsidies did the purchasers receive ?

Finally,
How much did they pay ?
What is the best taxi use they can put the PiP to, in terms of fraction of use as grid EV ?

---
In the US, it seems as though the average PiP ends up around 75 MPG (petrol). Now admittedly PiP owners self-select based on their driving and charging routines, but taxis should do the same.

 

I'm no longer in the taxi 'game' but it's not that a PIP wouldn't save money, but that inconvenience and cost come into play. The PIP in the UK is also EXPENSIVE. The base cost is £33,395 - £5,000 grant = £28,395 ($52,300 or $44,500 after grant). That's serious BMW money. It is expensive here where cars are expensive already.

The Prius (at £17,500 when I bought mine) was always borderline cost effective against a typical taxi purchase of a 3 year old Ford Mondeo at £4,000. A new Prius at £21,500 or a PIP at £28,395 is mad, crazy money. Many cab drivers are using Prius here now but they're buying second hand and as less than 3,000 Prii were sold last year compared to 10,000 in 2010, supply is drying up - fast.

But all that aside. The messing about plugging in and waiting to gain 10 miles isn't worth it. You lose that money saved in time sat about charging. On a taxi rank the cars are always moving forward when the lead car gets a passenger. Passengers are always in a rush. If one jumped in and I popped out to unplug my car, I'd return to an empty car and find the passenger had popped into the car behind. You'd also not want to leave someone in your car, even for 10 seconds, whilst you got out to unplug. You'd return to find your cash box, phone, sat nav missing.

I will admit that wireless charging might work for a taxi and the miniscule PIP range would worth if the car was regularly topped up every time I stopped on a rank or crawled forward on it. But that requires expense to install the wireless chargers and a compatible system. Also, who is paying for the electricity?

I bet half of those PIPs purchased in the article won't see more than 1,000 miles of plugged in charge in their lifetime.

 

Some math check needed...
When the car ends service on the end of the day, charges once - 15miles EV
At lunch time, charges partially (1 hour) - 8 miles EV

So every working day, 23miles will be driven EV easily and with no hassle.
On a yearly basis, 300 days give aprox. 7 k miles.
Lifetime (?) - 4 years, 27.6 k miles

 

You'd do that. I'd do that. But will your average 'couldn't care less' cabby? Maybe, maybe not. You also assume there is somewhere for all the drivers to charge and that they have a 1 hour lunch. Most times lunch is a quick sandwich, pasty, Mcdonalds on the go. If you were lucky to find a free to use charger next to where you intend to stop for 15 minutes, then fine. But a 1 hour lunch just doesn't happen - often.

The time sat charging to save 15 miles - 2 hours will save you £2 in petrol for £30 loss earnings. Assuming you get the FULL 15 miles.

Regarding charging at home. I'd be fine and many others with a drive or off street parking would be. Many taxi drivers are single (either before or shortly will be lol) and thus likely to live in an apartment or rented accommodation. Again, not all but a good 50%.

All speculation but I'd be curious to see the results when the fleet was returned.

 

GC, I cannot see where to fit a Volt in the scenario you've just described:

pit stop lunch;
50% no parking spot to chg (overnight) ;

As soon as the CS mode starts, Volt/Ampera will deliver a low MPG...