Greening the Taxi Fleet in Cambridge

Jo Dicks, Environmental Quality & Growth Manager Cambridge City Council

Taxi Licensing Zoom webinar Drivers For the Programme • To Improve Air Quality • To reduce Carbon Emissions • Availability of OLEV (now OZEV) Funding for infrastructure and Vehicle suubsidies • To normalise the use of Electric Vehicles as part of a wider electrification strategy Aspirations and Aims • An Ultra Low Emission Vehicle taxi fleet within 10 years • All newly licenced taxis to be ULEV emission within 5 years • A step change in available Electric Vehicle Charging infrastructure • A viable taxi trade Process

Internal discussions about project delivery and potential for regulatory change

Maintenance and development of chargepoint Feasibility Discussions network Submit bid for study with the local Applications Chargepoints first phase of determining taxi industry, submitted to installed as OLEV Taxi chargepoint incl. drivers and OLEV for part of project Scheme numbers and private hire funding delivery locations operators Continuous monitoring of ✓ ✓ chargepoint usage

Discussions with potential chargepoint hosts and external stakeholders Evidence! - Current Air Quality - AQMAs Pollutant Source Apportionment

contributions of NOx by vehicle type, King Street

3% 1% 11%

3%

LDV Total road HGV 100 Taxis Motorcycle Cars Car Taxi Buses LGV Bus HGV

82%

Kilometers

0 0.5 1 2 Contains OS data © Crown Copyright and database right 2017 Car emissions v Taxi emissions

NOX g/km 2

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1 NOX

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 Euro 3 Diesel Car Euro 4 Diesel Car Euro 5 Diesel Car Euro 3 Diesel Taxi Euro 4 Diesel Taxi Euro 5 Diesel Taxi Historic Environmental restrictions on Taxis in Cambridge

• 4 year age limit and minimum of Euro 5 at first licensing • 8 year age limit at time of license renewal • MOT type inspection every 6 months Fleet Fleet Analysis

At time of study, Cambridge City Council licensed 321 hackney carriages and 168 private hire vehicles

The fleet is very modern, as a result of the eight year age cap.

Propose Calculate Stakeholder Drivers’ Fleet analysis Data analysis chargepoint funding interviews survey locations requirement 9 Taxi drivers’ survey

• A survey was designed and received 72 responses. This is a good sample size and means that we are able to draw some valid conclusions from the survey.

• A few of the headline findings: • Average working mileage is 90 miles (slightly above average, compared to other areas we studied) • Average commuting mileage was 22 miles (above average again) • Average total daily mileage was 112 miles

• We also asked drivers which ranks they use most often.

Propose Calculate Stakeholder Drivers’ Fleet analysis Data analysis chargepoint funding interviews survey locations requirement 10 drivers’ survey –Barriers to uptake

We asked drivers what they believed were the most significant barriers to them purchasing an ULEV.

Range was the greatest concern expressed, 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% followed by high cost, Insufficient range (in miles) between charges lack of charging options High lease / purchase cost and impact on working Nowhere to charge during shifts time. High cost was less Nowhere to charge between shifts of an issue in Cambridge Charging during the day would impact on my productive working time than was expressed in The technology is new and unreliable many other areas. None Other

Propose Calculate Stakeholder Drivers’ Fleet analysis Data analysis chargepoint funding interviews survey locations requirement 11 Charging infrastructure locations

Charge Location Summary Indicator Speed Drummer Street Bus Station A Rapid Addenbrooks Hospital B Rapid Station Road C Rapid North West Cambridge D Rapid Parkside E Fast Barnwell Road/Newmarket Road F Fast Castle Hill Car Park G Fast Coldhams Lane/Brooks Broad H Fast Newmarket Road I Fast

Propose Calculate Stakeholder Drivers’ Fleet analysis Data analysis chargepoint funding interviews survey locations requirement 12 Sources of funding

• £15k OLEV funded Feasibility Study (2016) • £100k Cambridge City Council, Capital funding for Rapid Charging Infrastructure (2017) • £150k (total) Cambridge City Council, revenue funding for fee waivers from 2018-2023 • £100k (£25k pa) Capital funding from the Greater Cambridge Partnership (City Deal funding) for Rapid charging Infrastructure • £426k OLEV Taxi Scheme Capital funding for Taxi Charge point infrastructure over 3 years from 2017/18 (for a total of 18 rapid and 3 fast chargers) Current Policy Summary

• Cambridge City Council have consulted on and agreed implemented plans for a transition to Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Taxis.

– From April 2020 - All newly licenced taxis to be EV, Plug in Hybrid or other ZEV eg Hydrogen; (note some flexibility around disabled access vehicles) – Extended Age limits for ZEV (15 years) and Plug in Hybrids (12 years) – Reduced Number of disabled access vehicles to support uptake of Saloon type EV – Taxi License fees waived for early adopters for up to 5 years; – All Cambridge licensed taxis to be zero emission capable by 2028 – Rapid Charging infrastructure to be installed for Electric Taxis with exclusive access and capped costs at 25p / Kwh

https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/media/5431/hackney-carriage-and-private-hire- licensing-policy.pdf Detailed Adopted Policy from April 2018

Item Option Rationale Timeframe/ Implementation

1 Licence Fee Exemption for Zero emission, Vehicles Full Licence Fee Exemption is available for Zero Emission Vehicles ONLY. The exemption could potentially be for up to 5 years. This is dependent on funding availability. With effect from 1 April 2018

2 Licence Fee Discount for Ultra-Low Emission 50% Licence Fee discount is available for Ultra-Low emission vehicles.The exemption could potentially be for up to 5 years. This is dependent on funding availability. With effect from 1 April 2018 Vehicles

3 Extended Age Limit for Zero Emission Vehicles Zero Emission Vehicles can have an age limit of up to 15 years. With effect from 1 April 2018

This is subject to obtaining a Certificate of Compliance every 6 months.

4 Extended Age Limit for Ultra-Low Vehicles Ultra-Low emission vehicles can have an age limit of up to 12 years. With effect from 1 April 2018

This is subject to obtaining Certificate of Compliance every 6 months.

5 A set date for all new Licensed Saloon Vehicles to This allows proprietors/ potential proprietors to focus on planning to move to Zero or Ultra Low emission vehicles by a set date. With effect from 1 April 2020 be Zero or Ultra-Low Emission

6 A set date for all Licensed Saloon Vehicles to be This allows proprietors/ potential proprietors to focus on planning to move to Zero or Ultra Low emission vehicles by a set date and allows adequate business planning. By December 2028 Zero or Ultra-Low Emission

7 To reduce the total % of Wheelchair Accessible The % of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV) to be reduced to 50% within the fleet. Proprietors will be offered the chance to ’give up’ their Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle on the condition it is With effect from 1 April 2018 Vehicles within the Hackney Carriage Fleet to 50% replaced with a Zero emission saloon vehicle.

This will reduce the number of wheelchair accessible taxis from 213 to 163.

8 A set date for all Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles to Further to option 7 (above), currently the market does not provide Ultra-Low or Zero Emission Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles. By December 2028. Subject to review in 2026 be Ultra-Low or Zero Emission as and when the market allows • Infrastructure progress: – First two rapid chargers So, what commissioned in 2018 – Now 11 rapid and 1 fast charger progress Installed as of January 2021 – A further 7 rapid and 2 fast have we programmed for installation during 2021 made to • 37 Pure EV taxis, 3 ULEV plug in hybrid taxis (plus a further 61 date? traditional hybrid vehicles) Questions ?

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY