Converting London Black Cabs to LPGAutogas will deliver air quality benefits as well as saving cabbies money
Air pollution is responsible for the deaths of an estimated 29,000 people each year in the UK, with the majority of harmful emissions stemming from road transport.
To tackle this growing problem, in December 2015, the Government published its new air quality plan, placing an obligation on Local Authorities to reduce vehicle emissions in line with European targets by 2020. Meeting these targets at a time of fiscal constraint has sparked a renewed interest in automotive LPG, which at around half the price at the pump of petrol and diesel, has long appealed to the cost-conscious vehicle operator. However, LPG is also cleaner than petrol and diesel, delivering significantly lower harmful emissions including nitrogen dioxide and particulates, as well as carbon savings. In fact compared with diesel, vehicles running on LPG emit around 80% less nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – a major contributor to health issues such as lung disease and respiratory infection – and around 98% fewer particulates (PM) which are linked with asthma, lung cancer, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Taxis are a major source of urban air pollution. The UK’s diesel taxi fleet can be cost-effectively and quickly converted to LPG via an £8,000 conversion. The Government is already showing support for LPG via the DfT’s Clean Air Fund which awarded £500,000 to Birmingham City Council to convert 80 diesel black cabs to LPG. A TX4 diesel taxi converted to run on LPG delivers a reduction in NOx of 80%, PM of 99% and CO2 of 7%, meeting Euro 6 standards under real world testing. Furthermore, the taxi driver will achieve 20% reduction in fuel costs compared with a diesel taxi, giving a payback of less than two years. LPG is also future proof – today 90% of Tokyo’s taxis run on LPG and Toyota has an electric/LPG hybrid, the JPN Taxi, which will be sold to Tokyo’s taxi drivers from 2018 from just £16,000.
