The New Nissan Dynamo fully electric Taxi hit the street this morning, as Mr Adam Patric drove out of the gates at North West Taxis Colindale, to start a new era in the history of the London Taxi trade.
John Heath took to social media to announce the historic debut. His posts soon turned into a question and answer session
One driver commented:
I'm reading the same rubbish I used to hear when i bought my vito when they first came out:
It'll kill the taxi trade
Make us look like them
Blur the lines
Etc. Had a vito for years now and the trade hasn't imploded.It's another choice for us, best of luck with it.
John replied:
"Thank you, honestly some of the comments are quite ridiculous. It may not be for everybody, but without question it’ll be the cheapest daily operating taxi ever to ply its trade. If nothing else, you now have a choice and having that choice is always good as it raises standards".
"Come and see it, drive it, then judge it. At £47,995 and a running cost of 3p a mile, it’s the cheapest taxi by far to ever operate, that’s got to be worth a close up".
When asked when/if the Dynamo would be available with automatic doors similar to the Vito John replies:
"Never - with respect we do masses of market research, we concluded neither drivers nor customers liked electric doors, for different reasons and as we built this car for the driver and not for the passenger we went with the drivers comments".
He continued:
"I can’t imagine a passenger will forget to close a door, sit in with the door open, most try to close the Vito door which is mainly what causes the problems. If they do, pull away for 6 feet and stop, the door will close by itself anyway".
Asked if Dynamo would be making a similar model for the provinces, without the expense of the full London turning circle John said :
"No we aren’t, as the full grant is for London specification only, and of course if it were not London spec, it would then be more expensive".
One of the most asked relevant questions, is about the Dynamo’s range?
John made this statement:
"In the city, it’ll easy do 4 miles per kwh x 40kw the battery size, that’s 160 miles, and that’s not the best case scenario either. At £90 for a service, it just works, it’s a choice for the drivers now that wasn’t there before".
Taxi Leaks would like to wish Adam, Paula, Lee and John... as well as everyone involved in making this day possible, the very best of luck for the future.
