Oxford To Get 6 New Rapid Chargepoints For Electric Taxis

Oxford City Council will be installing six new rapid electric vehicle chargers across the city, aiming to support electric Private Hire and Hackney Carriage taxi drivers, and local residents.

The installations will be taking place ahead of the introduction of the Zero Emission Zone Pilot this August.

The new electric vehicle charging points are in addition to the two rapid chargers installed in 2019 at Manzil Way Gardens. Overall the project will increase the total number of charging bays for e-taxi drivers in the city to 16 bays.

Over the coming months, the Council will be working with EB Charging Ltd (Electric Blue) to install six new rapid chargers and 12 charging bays across the city. Rapid chargers are able to fully charge an electric vehicle in well under an hour, and are critical for high mileage users like e-taxi drivers.

Once installed, all 16 charging points are capable of delivering close to 800 half hour charging sessions throughout each day.

Work is starting on Monday to install the first rapid charging unit on Keble Road, which will provide rapid charging for two parking bays. Over the coming months, more charging points will be installed across the city, with locations to be confirmed.

The charging point locations will ensure that e-taxi drivers are never more than five miles away from a charging solution, and will be easily accessible from the major artery roads into the city.

The Government will be banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030, which will affect all cars, including taxis.

The Council is working with e-taxi drivers as part of its Go Ultra Low Oxford (GULO) Taxi project to help drivers transition to ultra-low emission vehicles by 2025, as the city moves towards the introduction of the Zero Emission Zone this August.

Currently there are seven electric taxis in Oxford, with uptake expected to increase with the introduction of the Zero Emission Zone Pilot.

The installation work is funded by a £373,000 grant from the Office for Zero Emission vehicles (OZEV), as well as a match funding contribution from the Council and EB Charging Ltd.

Supporting E-Taxi Drivers

Oxford is one of only a handful of UK cities offering dedicated taxi charging provision to their local trades, allowing the trades to access to rapid vehicle charging at a lower than average cost.

Under the Zero Emission Zone Pilot, the Councils have agreed emissions requirements for Hackney Carriage vehicles, which will be implemented through the Council’s licensing powers.

Under this agreement, Hackney Carriage e-taxis licensed in Oxford will have to phase to zero-emission vehicles, with drivers able to get a licence in 2025 if they have a zero-emission cab.

There will be a 50% discount for petrol-electric hybrid private hire e-taxis, and out of town Licenced Hackney carriage vehicles that

• Emit Less Than 100 g/km CO2 if the date of first registration is before 1 September 2018
• Emit Less Than 140 g/km CO2 if the date of first registration is on or after 1 September 2018.

The different limits are to ensure that the more stringent emissions tests for newer vehicles do not lead to cleaner vehicles being penalised over older, more polluting ones that were tested under a less rigorous system.

In order to support the e-taxi trade with vehicle electrification, the Council has a range of measures and support including:

• A Try Before You Buy Scheme with two electric Hackney Carriages which is running until December 2021
• Financial support for licensing ultra-low emission Hackney Carriages and Private Hire vehicles
• ODS, the commercial arm of Oxford City Council, is an approved authorised service dealer for LEVC TX electric black cabs.

As further support for the EV transition of the taxi trade the new rapid charging points, and the current station at Manzil Way will be available to use for the Oxford licensed trades at a cost that is below average market rates. Other users will be able to charge at competitive commercial rates.

Councillor Tom Hayes, Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford, said: “No electric taxi driver will be more than five miles away from fully charging their cab service near me within sixty minutes. A healthy top up could take just minutes because of these new rapid chargers. We’re moving from a 100% diesel taxi fleet to a 100% electric taxi fleet, taxi drivers will save big sums over their vehicle’s lifetime and help to protect people by cleaning Oxford’s air and reducing carbon emissions.”