Electric taxis

zg3409

Loans for EV Taxis

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0908/1245515-microfinance-ireland-to-lend-to-electric-taxi-buyers/

the_amazing_raisin

Rates between 4.5% and 5.5%, not an expert on business loans but compared to some car finance that doesn't seem bad

There's a few Leaf taxis around me, plus at least 1 E-Niro and an ID.4

Great to see taxi drivers getting on board. I'd say that'll convince a lot of people to make the switch

Red Silurian

Seeing a lot of car sellers offering EVs purely for taxis... Is this legal? Should they not have the same offers for everybody?

The Black Oil

Saw a Zoe taxi earlier.

JohnC.

A neighbour who runs taxis recently got an eNiro. I've not had a chance to have a chat about how he's finding it, but it's certainly getting a lot of use. Don't see it home much.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869118#Comment_117869118

What’s illegal about it?

they are catering for a specific market.

anyway, just bought an eNiro yesterday for the father in law. This is the third eNiro I’ve pushed family members into in the taxi game in Dublin.

eNiros are becoming thin on the ground to the moment. There may be only a couple left in the country. Since 1st September, Kia have removed their free charger offer and also their dealer discount offer.

i got the first 2 for 36,188 and this one is coating 37,500 on the road. We then have to swap out the rear privacy glass to clear glass. This coats anywhere from 450-650 depending on who you get them off and currently there is a back log on the clear glass. Then pay about 370 for equipment swap over. Then pass the suitability test.

then the good bit. Scrap the old car for about 1300.

claim grant of 20000 means the brand new car is on the road for about 16,200.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869287#Comment_117869287

Zoe is the smallest EV that qualifies. I couldn’t imagine working one though.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117869118#Comment_117869118

Why?

they are selecting a target audience?

the government grants are different for taxis than non taxis.

the base price is the same

unkel

Finally you did it Gumbo got the old man into a pure EV 😁

He will thank you for it, no doubt. If you're in the taxi game (in Dublin), it's a no brainer. Will save you a fortune in fuel and maintenance alone and thanks to the subsidy, the depreciation is only a fraction of an ICE. I take it a taxi driver gets the same discount on the toll as a private owner too?

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117870546#Comment_117870546

So what you're saying is they give it to everybody for the same base price but specifically advertise the price it would cost for a taxi driver? That's fair enough then

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117871030#Comment_117871030

Finally :)

he’s been raving about the Prius the last 3 years and cost him less on petrol per week than his old 1.9 Tdi Octavia.

this will be his last car now. Brand new 212 Gravity Blue eNiro on the road for 17k. He had to jump. Be mad not to.

the toll thing I’ll look into when he collects the car. I’ll try get him set up on tolltag.ie same as me.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117871159#Comment_117871159

yes, the same way the garages advertise the car prices with the SEAI grant already taken off.

you still have to go on and hand over 37k to the dealer.

slave1

That's some discount, how long do they have to hold onto them before they can sell (used)?

Royale with Cheese

There was an electric Kia taxi ahead of me in Sandyford earlier who was pulling into the luas car park to use the DC charger there, he would have had to queue for it though as there was already an electric VW taxi using it. Looks like you're going to start to see a lot of taxis clogging up the DC chargers in Dublin.

MightyMunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876705#Comment_117876705

How many km would a taxi do in a shift in Dublin? All these new cars should be able to do 300-400km of city driving easy enough. Would they do that much in a day?

ted1

Doubt it, my average speed is about 38kmh. That’s driving around the suburbs with a bit of the M50 or M11.

so good for ten 8-11 hours driving

Busman Paddy Lasty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117878564#Comment_117878564

Coule be new cars whose drivers don't have home charging yet.

Not sure how much they do per day but was queuing behind a taxi eNiro at a charger. Hasn't got home charge point installed yet and said once he has it in, there won't be any more public charging, just stuck for a few weeks.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876705#Comment_117876705

I was in a ID4 taxi with the 55kW battery in Stillorgan recently. Very nice car, friendly driver too.

He plans on using the 50kW DC charging in Sandyford mid-shift as a top-up - I told him that it wont work like that when society returns to normal. He'll need a >150kW rapid charger at least, but no chance of one of those in Dublin in the near future.

Anyway, I had to laugh - VW dealer told him that a 55kW battery would cost €2,000 to replace. Maybe in 2035.

MightyMunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117878964#Comment_117878964

The current battery should last just fine until then anyway so shouldn't be a problem 🙂

Sheep Shagger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117878964#Comment_117878964

Expensive way to charge if you were using public pay chargers often (daily).

celtic_oz

seems a perfect taxi ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ1rn_XZ1sk

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876685#Comment_117876685

3 years.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879473#Comment_117879473

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879473#Comment_117879473

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879473#Comment_117879473

Yeah i looked at them also. I could of had one on the rod ready to work for 10,400!

Thats not to be sniffed at.

But, it didnt look or feel or drive as good as the eNiro.

There are questions about quality especially in the UK where rust is proving to be a big issue at the moment nd dealers struggling to fix them.

celtic_oz

Thought they had the rust issue solved ?

Battery tech ( and autonomy 😲 ) will change quite fast .. a small investment now for 3 years and you could be into an entirely different environment

innrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117878964#Comment_117878964

My understanding is that they already have dedicated 150kW at the airport rank. Also Heuston station has some charger installed for taxis only last year but not sure it is powered.

Print screen from the epower app. Maybe Gumbo can confirm the airport ones are operational.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879530#Comment_117879530

I don’t know. Maybe they do but not worth the risk. Also, the newer bigger 61 kWh battery in the MG5 will be here in October so that was covering any range concerns.

there’s a few of them in Dublin as taxis already.

the_amazing_raisin

Here's an interesting concept, if you have a taxi license do you actually have to take any passengers?

I mean with discounts like what Gumbo was getting for the E-Niro, it'd almost offset the cost of a taxi plate for 3 years, then you could sell the car to yourself as a private vehicle

I seem to remember there was a similar scam running a few years ago in London where people would register as a minicab to avoid the congestion charges

Not that I would ever approve of such misconduct 😁

unkel

Michael O'Leary being chauffeured to work by his private driver in his private car. With taxi plates, so it could go in the bus lanes? Anyone remember that? You got to admire the huge brass cojones of the man 😁

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117881820#Comment_117881820

You cannot buy a taxi licence at the moment.

Any new entrant must buy a wheelchair plate (WAV).

so most of the “normal” EV’s don’t comply. Then with the modifications you have to carry out to get a WAV the car would be worthless afterwards.

then you have to add in the costs as a taxi such as year nct, insurance is €2k. Doesn’t matter if your 30,40,60. Newcomer is just under €4K. The insurance side is a closed shop.

this would all eat into any “scam” savings.

the typical “scam” here over recent years was to register your large engined car as a limo. That way you got link tax of €88 instead of €1800+

also, you could register an estate as a hearse, I kid you not!

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117890476#Comment_117890476

Ah yeah, I suspected that if it were easy then everyone would be doing it

Plus I presume there's some requirement to actually operate as a taxi to get the license

I heard of a great one that was going on with Uber drivers in the US. They'd get a fixed amount of money for logging in as available during peak times in some areas

But they didn't actually have to pick anyone up so a bunch of people were registering as drivers and just collecting money for nothing 😂