Cruising down electric avenue

Allied Vehicles’ zero emission electric taxi has been snubbed by councillors in London and Liverpool. But TV presenter Lara Masters gives it a gold star for access

I had mixed feelings when asked to review this new electric taxi, because in the last nine years I have developed an uncharacteristically venomous hatred of cabs. Since living in Willesden Green, north-west London, about five minutes from Notting Hill, I have never been able to get a taxi to collect me from home when using my Taxicard. Apparently, living in the suburbs is even more of a disability than using a wheelchair.

With professional stoicism, I refused to let my negative experiences cloud my judgement of the Allied Vehicles ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) E7, a conversion of the Peugeot Expert. This electric taxi doesn’t look like a traditional black cab; it’s larger, squarer and more spacious inside, like a people-carrier but with the usual seat formation and partition between driver and passengers.

The single ramp, which pulls out from underneath the vehicle, is large and wide but mercifully easy to manoeuvre, and feels sturdy, so there is no need for 20 minutes of “a little bit left, a little bit right” while you wobble up two precariously-placed narrow ramps, fearing for your life and watching the taxi meter hurtle towards your allowance limit.

Once inside, there is enough room for a large wheelchair to turn to face the back and an impressive array of straps secures you firmly into place. If you are into bondage, this will be a highlight.

The journey itself was smooth and strangely silent without the melodious chugging of the diesel engine, and the extra height meant I didn’t have to bend down and give myself another spinal injury to see out of the window.

The electric taxi produces no carbon dioxide emissions (black taxis are responsible for four per cent of the capital’s total emissions) and is cheaper to run than a typical black cab (£530 per month for diesel versus £500 a month to charge the E7’s lithium-ion batteries). A single charge of the battery lasts 100 miles and the taxi has a top speed of 60mph. Of course, much as I love to know my taxi is cost-efficient and will help ensure our world won’t be extinguished by a cloud of pollution, what I’m really interested in is that it’s perfectly accessible!

My excitement abated when I found that it doesn’t look as if wheelchair-using Londoners or Liverpudlians will be able to use these revolutionary taxis any
time soon.

Even though the same model in its diesel form is successfully in use in cities such as Edinburgh, Leeds, Newcastle and Birmingham, councils in London and Liverpool have raised object­ions to the E7 being included in their fleet because its “turning circle” is too big.

Personally, I am less worried that my cab can do a perfect pirouette than that it’s an accessible vehicle that can get me from A to B. Time for an uprising.