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London Taxi TX: range-extended electric black cab launched

The new electric London Taxi TX has been revealed in production guise, with sales slated to begin later this year.


The taxi is powered by the company's new eCity drivetrain, which pairs an electric motor with a small petrol generator, reportedly a 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine sourced from Volvo.

It's claimed the TX will, when fully charged and filled to the brim with petrol, have a range of over 645 kilometres (400 miles), with the first 115km in pure EV mode.

The TX uses its own platform, but shares components with recent Volvo models, including the steering wheel, gear lever, switchgear, door handles, and portrait-oriented infotainment screen.

This parts sharing comes about as Volvo and London Taxi share a common parent company, Chinese car maker Geely.

The TX is currently going through its final round of quality and extreme weather checks, with hot weather testing taking place in Arizona, and cold weather evaluations occurring around the Arctic Circle.

Orders for the TX will be accepted from October this year. The company is hoping to crack markets outside of London and China, with an order of 225 taxis already confirmed from the Netherlands.

The Guardian believes the new TX, originally thought to be named the TX5, will be priced from around 50,000 pounds ($84,700). The current diesel-powered TX4 starts from around 43,000 pounds ($72,900).

The company claims the new taxi will cost 100 pounds ($169) less per week to run compared to the diesel TX4.

Coinciding with the launch of the TX, the London Taxi Company has renamed itself as the London EV Company and adopted a new logo.

With an investment of 325 million pounds ($550 million) from parent Geely, the London EV Company plans on branching out from producing just taxi cabs, with a light commercial vehicle featuring the TX's eCity range-extended drivetrain planned.

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