The well know Chinese Car Makers BYD have goaled a deal to provide London’s greentomatocars minicab service with a fleet of all-electric cars. They signed the MoU on 24th October,According to the deal BYD have to supply 50 electric e6 minicabs to the company for trial from the second quarter of 2013.
The Latest variant e6 is a spacious crossover/estate vehicle with five seats and large luggage capacity. Powered by a 75kW motor and BYD’s own Fe battery (Iron Phosphate battery), which is a completely emission free vehicle and has a range of 186 miles on a single charge, with that it adds a top speed of 87 mph. BYD’s Fe batteries can be fully charged and discharged for more than 4,000 cycles. Their e6 taxis are well-proven and have already driven a total of more than 14 million miles in key global markets.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson is keen to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles in the city, and said “It is my aim that London’s minicabs and taxis will be zero-emission by 2020, which will have a major impact on air quality.” He added, “It is great that greentomatocars has committed to operating 50 of these super clean machines from next year.” Meanwhile, there is no further news on when the BYD e6 might arrive on U.S. shores, depsite suggestions from the company that it will.
At the Signing of the MoU(Memorandum of Understanding) the dignitaries present were BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu, BYD senior director Henry Li, BYD Europe business director Paul Lin, BYD EU regional manager Michael Miao, co-founder and MD of greentomatocars Jonny Goldstone, co-founder of greentomatocars Tom Pakenham, CEO UK and Ireland of Veolia Transdev, Nigel Stevens, and marketing manager of greentomatocars Hamish Phillips.