Eco City Vehicles launches Mercedes electric taxi prototype

8 February 2010

UK green vehicle and London licensed taxi developer Eco City Vehicles has launched an electric prototype of the London-licensed Mercedes Vito taxi.

Called the Mercedes Electric eVito Taxi , the zero-emissions, lithium-ion battery vehicle was developed by a consortium of high-technology engineering companies including electric vehicle manufacturing partner Penso, Mercedes Benz UK and Zytec Automotive.

Later this year, the consortium said it plans to conduct controlled trials to confirm eVito’s suitability for road usage as a London licensed taxi. The electric taxi is powered by Zytek’s 70KW electric powertrain and expected to exceed a total range of 120 miles in a typical mixed drive cycle on a single charge. With zero emissions, the company said it expects the vehicle to be fully compliant with the Mayor of London’s proposed new clean air standards for London taxis.

‘The eVito is the first all-electric wheelchair accessible taxi with a 25-foot turning circle to be launched in the world and a major step towards our goal to become a leading supplier of niche eco-friendly vehicles,’ said Peter DaCosta, CEO of Eco City Vehicles. ‘Subject to successful trials, the eVito together with the already popular Vito taxi provides London with a great opportunity to reduce air pollution with modern vehicles. We have taken on board Mayor Boris Johnson’s wish for a cleaner London and I’m confident this will contribute to meeting his goal.’

Eco City Vehicles is a specialist vehicle distributor and after-sales service centre for the London Taxi owner-driver market. The company said it is in the process of expanding its product lines by distributing environmentally friendly vehicles through its existing channels to market, targeting local authorities, urban vehicle fleet owners and other business users.

The Vito, co-developed by ECV with One80 Ltd and Mercedes Benz was launched in June 2008 as an alternative to the old-style TX4 taxi. The company said it has captured a 30 per cent share of new black cab taxi sales in London. The group has also launched a 3.5 tonne series hybrid Mitsubishi truck in the UK.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: electric car, electric taxi, electric vehicle, energy efficiency

This story was published on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Europe, companies, energy efficiency. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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