London’s first zero-emissions chauffeur service, Thriev, has signed an agreement with the noted EV manufacturer BYD Auto for the procurement of twenty BYD e6 electric sedans. The new fleet from BYD is currently set to officially enter service on Feb 3rd, 2014 — marking it the opening of the first such zero-emissions taxi or chauffeur service in the country.
The new deal, and the launch of the Thriev chauffeur-service in general, represents one of the first steps towards the fulfillment of the aggressive goal put forward by the Mayor of London last month — by the year 2018, all new taxis in London will be required to be zero-emissions in order to receive an operating license. As part of the new deal, BYD will also be equipping Thriev’s Edgware Road facility located in west London with BYD’s purpose-designed charging equipment — allowing for rapid charging of the e6.
A bit of background on Thriev — the company is a chauffeured car-service offering low-cost, zero-emission rides throughout the London area. The service will utilize an “electric car program complete with intelligent AC power interfaces, EVs and state-of-the-art smart car/charger scheduling systems.”
Business Wire provides more:
Initially, the e6 fleet is being supplied on a lease arrangement, although both BYD and Thriev expect this to be the beginning of a long-term relationship fulfilling a joint BYD and Thriev vision for a ‘green city solution’ – the transitioning of key public and personal transport vehicles from petrol and diesel power to pure electric. In December 2013, two fully-electric, full-size 12-meter BYD buses operated by Go-Ahead Group, entered service on two central Transport-for-London routes – part of a Europe-wide initiative to introduce emissions-free buses to major city centre operations. Both the e6 car and eBus from BYD share the same proven and reliable Battery-electric technology. They use BYD’s internally developed Iron-Phosphate (or “FE”) batteries, proven in over 100 million miles of taxi and 14 million miles of bus passenger transport in China as well as many parts of the world.
With regard to the new agreement, BYD Europe’s Managing Director Isbrand Ho, stated: “We have been looking at various options to bring our e6 and its proven emissions-free technology to London. We are convinced that in Thriev we have found the right partner to do this – we share many of the same objectives of providing safe, reliable and efficient green transport in cities.”