The yellow cab is an ever-present, yet ever-changing, symbol of New York City.
The ubiquitous Checker Marathon cab gave way to the Ford Crown Victoria after Checker ceased production in 1982. Soon, Crown Vics were everywhere – a routine part of daily life in Manhattan. Then Ford stopped making the big, RWD sedans in 2011.
While still numerous on Madison Ave. and Broadway, yellow Crown Vics are in turn being replaced by vehicles such as Toyota Camry. But to celebrate Earth Day, a new vehicle was introduced into the hustle and bustle of New York traffic.
That’s when Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched an electric taxi pilot program with the Nissan Leaf. Six Leaf taxis will go into service in Spring 2013 in a test to see if zero emission EVs can be integrated into taxi fleets.
“As part of our commitment to zero emission vehicles for the mass-market, Nissan is looking for ways to broaden the use of electric cars, including commercial applications like taxis,” said Joe Castelli, VP of Nissan Commercial Vehicles. “Following the selection of the Nissan NV200 as New York City’s ‘Taxi of Tomorrow,’ our relationship with the city provides us the ultimate proving ground to conduct this Leaf taxi pilot.”
Mayor Bloomberg said: “Even though the Taxi of Tomorrow won’t be on the road for another six months, we’re already looking ahead to the taxi of the day after tomorrow. Nissan’s proven track record with electric vehicles will put us ahead of the curve in helping us answer important questions about incorporating electric taxis into the fleet so that we can achieve the goal of a one-third electric taxi fleet by 2020.”
To help keep the Leaf taxis running, Nissan and partners in New York City will install several DC quick charging stations, which will enable drivers to recharge Leaf’s lithium-ion batteries to about 80% in less than 30 minutes.
