£2.9 million fund for electric taxis in Birmingham

Birmingham City Council is set to receive £2.9 million from the Department for Transport to roll out an electric taxi infrastructure.

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) funding will see councils go ahead with plans to implement 197 charge points across the city centre and outer city areas.

It will offer fast or rapid charging facilities for taxis and private hire vehicles.

These include two key ‘super’ charge point hubs at Tyseley Energy Park, on the main route to Birmingham Airport and the Birmingham NEC, and at Birmingham New Street Station’s Ellis Street car park, which is the main rank, pick-up and drop-off point in the city centre.

Each will have a minimum of six charge points. These will be supported by charging points at a further seven city centre locations, including Star City, Birmingham Coach Station, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Sheepcote Street, off Broad Street.

Birmingham’s taxi fleet currently numbers 1,229 Hackney carriages and 4,060 private hire vehicles, and the council is working towards a 50 per cent uptake of ultra-low or zero-emissions vehicles across the entire fleet by 2020.

Birmingham is one of five cities mandated by the government to implement a Clean Air Zone in order to become compliant with air quality legislation, and this will include requiring taxis to meet Euro 6 vehicle emissions requirements.

Birmingham City Council is currently consulting on proposals for new taxi emission standards.