New Mercedes Luxury Electric Cab Being Tested In London

Taxi cab companies, like a group in Arizona which has an all Prius car fleet, are looking for ways to go green for a variety of reasons. Eco City Vehicles, a specialist vehicle distributor and after-sales service center for the London taxi owner-driver market, said it is out with a new prototype of its own eco-focused cab – the London-licensed Mercedes Vito taxi.

The all-electric version of the Mercedes Vito is built upon the platform of the company’s current Vito, co-developed by ECV with One80 Ltd and Mercedes Benz. The gas powered version is said to have “captured a more than 30% share of new ‘black cab’ taxi sales in London” since it debuted in 2008., The electric prototype is being made by ECV’s manufacturing partner Penso, Mercedes Benz UK and Zytec Automotive. This group plans do trials of this vehicle later this year to get it ready for real driving conditions.

The Mercedes Electric eVito Taxi, as it is being called, “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.” It is believed it will be available in time for the London Olympics.