The Taxi and Limousine Commission announced that the PT Cruiser converted to a BEV by Hybrid Technologies couldn’t withstand cold temperatures or the average taxi shift during a pilot program earlier this year.
Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer, reports that a BEV (lithium Battery-powered all-Electric Vehicle) could not hack it on the mean New York streets. The Taxi and Limousine Commission announced that the PT Cruiser converted to a BEV by Hybrid Technologies couldn’t withstand cold temperatures or the average taxi shift during a pilot program earlier this year. “The commission was testing whether the environmentally-friendly car could tough it out during the average, strenuous 10-hour New York cab shift.”
“It got to spend a lot of time on the back of a flatbed tow truck and not a lot of time as a taxicab,” said commission spokesman Allan Fromberg.
Now it’s back to the drawing board, but the commission has not given up and will keep on looking for an electric car that works. The little cab that couldn’t hit the streets early this year, but usually stopped working after driving 40 miles, Fromberg said.
Once it made it more than 90 miles, but never the average cab shift of 100. The manufacturer, Hybrid Technologies, took the car back about a month ago, Fromberg said.
Hybrid Technologies electric conversions of PT Cruisers with Kokam lithium ion batteries failed to hack it as a NYC cab, but that has not stopped Hybrid Technologies from selling an electric conversion of the Mini Cooper.
According to Green Car Congress, Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a commitment in May; the entire yellow cab fleet will go hybrid by 2012. For now New Yorkers need to look for a green-apple sticker. The growing hybrid fleet has hit 461 out of more than 13,000 yellow cabs in service. The taxi commission stated that there soon would be a sticker designating wheelchair-accessible cabs.
2 Comments
Well, of course the converted PT Cruisers failed as taxis. The state of the art in this technology is just not at the point at which we can drive for as long and as far as we’re accustomed to in gasoline-powered cars. Any battery electric car has to be recharged after so many miles. This doesn’t mean electric cars aren’t suitable transportation for the individual, though. The average driver doesn’t spend 100 miles per day behind the wheel, but rather less than half that. The electric cars on the market today are geared to the needs of commuters who want to avoid buying gasoline to drive to work and back and to the store and back. These cars aren’t intended to function as public transportation and the idiots at the Taxi and Limousine Commission should have had the common sense to realize this.
On the other hand, there are battery electric cars that have the kind of range the Commission needs (the Tesla Roadster, for one), but they aren’t suitable for use as taxis, unless you plan on carrying one passenger at a time. Jeez, people! Give the technology a chance before you condemn it. By 2010, electric cars will fast be replacing the gasoline powered dinosaurs we drive now.
I wonder if the failed expectations were in part the responsibility of Hybrid Technologies? The other question is how large a range extender is necessary? And, was the failure in cold weather because of energy used for heating or an inability of the batteries to perform in cold weather? If the latter, then this is an important concern, as electric drives need to perform in various climates for widespread adoption.
I cannot drive my electric car in the winter because the batteries are lead acid. And, I was under the impression that the advanced lithium batteries performed in a wider temperature range.