Hydrogen Fuel Cell London Taxis
London’s new fleet of five hydrogen fuel cell powered taxis provided by the HyTEC (Hydrogen Transport for European Cities) project have now driven 2500 miles in total, fuelled by the capital’s second hydrogen fuelling station at Heathrow airport.
The first phase of the HyTEC project saw the pioneering fleet of fuel cell electric London Taxis, which were developed by the UK power technology company Intelligent Energy and The London Taxi Company, transport 40 visiting dignitaries and the VIP guests of the Greater London Authority during the Olympic and Paralympic period. High-profile individuals included Arnold Schwarzenegger and Barbara Windsor, with some VIPs undertaking more than one journey in the fuel cell electric taxis. Members of the GLA including Mayor Boris Johnson and Deputy Mayors Kit Malthouse, Munira Mirza and Sir Edward Lister also had the opportunity to ride in the cabs.
The current prototype (made with the help of Lotus Engineering) has a range of 250 miles (400 km) and top speed of over 80 mph (it recently achieved 95 mph at the Millbrook test track). The hydrogen tank can supposedly be refilled in five minutes. Currently £5.5 million has been used to fund the project from the Technology Strategy Board.
Read more about this topic: TX4
Famous quotes containing the words hydrogen, fuel, cell and/or london:
“The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; the successful production of the fission bomb forces upon us the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb. We do not choose our problems, we do not choose our products; we are pushed, we are forcedby what? By a system which has no purpose and goal transcending it, and which makes man its appendix.”
—Erich Fromm (19001980)
“I had an old axe which nobody claimed, with which by spells in winter days, on the sunny side of the house, I played about the stumps which I had got out of my bean-field. As my driver prophesied when I was plowing, they warmed me twice,once while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire, so that no fuel could give out more heat. As for the axe,... if it was dull, it was at least hung true.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“I turn and turn in my cell like a fly that doesnt know where to die.”
—Antonio Gramsci (18911937)
“The earth is mankinds ultimate haven, our blessed terra firma. When it trembles and gives way beneath our feet, its as though one of Gods cheques has bounced.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. quoted in: London Sunday Correspondent Magazine (Dec. 24, 1989)