The Hydrogen Powered Taxi

[Raistlin]

The average London black cab drives 35,000 miles a year on the capital's congested roads, the diesel engines that power them contributing a fifth of the particulate emissions from ground-based public transport.

Convenient, respected the world over and an iconic feature of London's streets the pressure is on to make our famous black cabs turn green, an ambition realised with this new fuel cell powered taxi.

Based on the familiar LTI TX4, the new fuel cell taxi ditches the smelly diesel engine and replaces it with an electric motor, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and meaning the only emissions it makes are water vapour.

Developed by a conglomerate of LTI, fuel cell specialists Intelligent Energy, Lotus and others, the fuel cell taxi has a range of 250 miles and accelerates faster than the conventional TX4 while demanding no compromises in carrying capacity.

Unveiling the prototype cab outside London's city hall, London's deputy mayor Kit Malthouse praised the ingenuity of the cab's development team, saying it answered those who thought the only answer to our eco woes is "eating lentils and padding about in sandals."

These forthright views reflect the wishes of his boss Boris Johnson to expand the use of hydrogen-powered buses, vans and taxis on the back of a plan to introduce six hydrogen filling stations to the capital in the next couple of years.

A typical diesel-powered cab will only manage 20mpg or so in congested London traffic but remains the only choice due to the demanding nature of the job - a Battery only electric cab simply wouldn't have the range.

Strictly speaking the fuel cell cab is a hybrid, able to run off plug-in Battery power, the fuel cell or a combination of both. However it runs the fact it emits zero emissions at street level would be a huge boost for London's air quality.