London taxis to automatically run on electric
The Mayor of London has extended the capital's low emission plans with news that taxis and buses will run on electric automatically in the most polluted areas of the city from 2018.
New technology will be added to taxis and buses, which will recognise when they are driving in one of these areas and switch the vehicle to electric mode. The aim is to eradicate emissions in some of the most polluted places in Britain.
By 2016 there will be 1,700 hybrid buses in London and earlier this year it was announced that all new taxis must be hybrids by 2018.
A survey by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2012 recorded the most polluted areas as Grosvenor Place near Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square.
The mayor's senior advisor on environment and energy Matthew Pencharz revealed that this could be rolled out on private vehicles eventually telling The Times: "With geo-fencing technology, when the vehicle crosses a particular line, it will go into electric mode. Some of our buses in future will also be doing this.
"The technology can be responsive, so if one bit of town is more polluted than another, then the buses and taxis would switch to electric mode where the pollution was worse."
This news follows plans revealed this week that diesel drivers will be charged a further £10 for entering the capital to help reduce emissions in the worst effected areas.
by: Danielle Bagnall