Tesla Taxi would be fun to ride in, but it's just for show
Some people love their profession so much they decorate their cars to show the world how they earn their beans. Such is the case of the owner of a New York taxi company who lives near Monaco and operates mostly hybrid taxis in the Big Apple. Apparently, he has a few beans to show off. The car in question has been painted in the iconic yellow and black taxi cab colors and was exhibited at the French Côte d'Azur where it caused a bit of a sensation. It won't be used to ferry customers around, but that option might still be coming some day to Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
[Source: Le Blog Auto]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
letstakeawalk 3:59PM (11/01/2009)
Pretty sweet deal. Gotta love the tax law in Monaco!
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why not the LS2LS7? 4:27PM (11/01/2009)
Doesn't make any sense. It takes too long to charge.
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nrb 5:21PM (11/01/2009)
High purchase price.
No room for luggage.
No room for more than one passenger.
Hard to get in/out of.
Limited range (could never go all day on a charge).
Absolutely terrible vehicle for a taxi.
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Boyprodigy1 5:43PM (11/01/2009)
Not if you are late for a date...
rich 7:54PM (11/01/2009)
nrb...
I agree that a Tesla Roadster is a poor choice for a taxi, but 3 of your points are wrong.
There is enough room for overnight luggage or a golf bag.
Most taxi rides are single passenger.
It can go all day on a charge, if all of the driving was city driving following the profile of the EPA unified driving cycle ( LA92 ) you could drive a Tesla Roadster for at least 8 hours on one charge.
The LA92 driving cycle mixes city street and highway driving, and even though the cruising speeds range from 35-65mph there is enough stop light time to slow the average speed to under 30 mph. Considering that taxis have a lot of stop and go to pick up customers and waiting time this pattern would probably hold.
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/standards/light-duty/la92.htm
If taxi companies put chargers in to taxi stands, electric vehicles could become very good taxis.
nrb 8:02PM (11/01/2009)
rich, it's a reasonable point of view, but I'm not sure I agree.
The Tesla is severely limited on size. It's a TINY vehicle. Person and luggage room is a significant concern. A taxi also needs to have the ability to carry more than one person. Ask any taxi driver.
It would be interesting to put a Tesla through few days of taxi duty. I'm willing to be that it'd drain the battery sooner than you might think. Of course, that's purely conjecture on my part.
Sometime down the road, EVs might make sense as taxis, but not yet.
why not the LS2LS7? 8:50PM (11/01/2009)
8 hours isn't a full day for a taxi vehicle, maybe not even for a taxi driver. It is most definitely not "all day".
The Tesla doesn't have enough trunk space for a taxi, many tax rides are with luggage (to and from the airport), not just handbags. And a taxi with only enough seats for one paying passenger is completely absurd.
Also, if you run the battery down most of the way, you put significant wear on it. It would only last about 500 cycles then, which is only a year and a half.
It's just a case of a vehicle that works for casual use not working for commercial use. And it's not even close to being the only vehicle that has this problem.
rich 9:51PM (11/01/2009)
The average NYC taxi drives 180 miles in a 12 hour shift.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/taxidreams/data/index.html
The Tesla could do that without any recharging.
Clearly it is too small a car to be a useful taxi, but a 200 mile range version of the Leaf would be fine and only need charging on "above average" days.
http://highspeedcharging.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/electric-taxi/
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why not the LS2LS7? 10:58PM (11/01/2009)
Half of days are above average. So 50% of the time it need charging? That's far from sufficient.
Fast charging is not good for the battery pack. And the battery pack will already be working extra hard since this is a commercial use, not a casual use. You're talking about 5x the normal use (60,000 miles a year).
rich 11:51PM (11/01/2009)
Good points.
Did you read the whole post about electric taxis on my blog? The average taxi sits waiting for passengers for many hours a day, leaving lots of time for charging, it doesn't even need to be particularly fast charging. A taxi fleet can manage the charging with scheduling.
Nissan claims the Leaf can be fast recharged 4 times a day for 7 years before noticing significant diminished capacity. ( I don't have a reference for that )
Even if you completely used up the battery in 7 years, it would be way cheaper than gasoline.
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why not the LS2LS7? 3:54AM (11/02/2009)
I think they mean partial recharges. If they mean full recharges, they're lying.
pulp1 1:50PM (11/02/2009)
Very cool exercice ! Well done to the owner... Which company does he own ? I'll definitively look for his cabs when in NY...
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