If you were hoping to hail an electric-powered black cab in London sometime this year, it seems you’re in luck.
The London Taxi Company (LTC) was recently out testing a camouflaged car on the snowy roads of Northern Sweden, just as we’re getting nearer to the new taxi’s launch date.
We now know that the new taxi will be a full-electric vehicle with a range extender (like a BMW i3), as opposed to a plug-in hybrid, which is what some people assumed initially because of that old TX5 Concept.
“We understand drivers will want to be sure that our range extended electric vehicle technology works in all conditions which is why we’ve gone to such efforts to test in these extreme environments. It will be, without doubt, the highest quality and resilient product in London Taxi’s history,” said LTC Quality Director, Wolfram Liedtke.
Another interesting tidbit concerns that red Volvo XC90 mule with the long wheelbase we saw a while back. Our spy photographers now say that it was actually one of the first mules for the all-new London Taxi – and in retrospect this makes sense since Chinese company Geely owns both Volvo as well as the London Taxi Company.
The new and electrified London Cab is set to debut in late 2017 (Q3), though until then, you may just see it in the most unlikeliest of places, such as on a huge billboard in the middle of Times Square.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops