In the Tuesday, November 16th, WSJ the above was the title of an article about a
"standardized" yellow cab design to replace the venerable Ford Crown Victoria.
About a year ago I wrote a blog regarding Mayor Bloomberg's interest in getting ALL
NY city cabs to be hybrids. The then stated goal was within 2 years that 80% would be
hybrid. And produce at least 25 mpg.
Well how does this new project fit in? I am not sure. It would be obvious if this "CAB
OF THE FUTURE" was required to be a hybrid AND meet a stated minimum MPG.
Well it appears that the taxi fleet owners resistance has succeeded in delaying the fuel
economy imposition. What it does do is impose load and passenger requirements that
simply can no longer be met by a sedan such a Ford Crown Vic. Ford says the Crown Vic
will be out of production at the end of 2010.
BTW The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a judge's 2009 ruling in a suit
brought by taxi fleet owners, that the city's rules amounted to an effort to mandate fuel
economy and emissions standards, something that only the federal government is allowed
to do.
FWIW NY City rates the Ford Crown Vic at 12-14 mpg in taxi service. The new Ford
offering is non-hybrid and presumes to average 19 mpg. Hence the claim of 35%
improvement in mileage. The number of taxis in NYC is estimated at 13,000.
So far 7 companies have offered designs for NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission
evaluation and 3 have been initially accepted (?). One is by Ford, another by Nissan and a
third by a Turkish company Karsan. Ford is already offering its "Transit Connect" in the
US. Nissan is offering its special Cab Van in Europe. Karsan's offering is not in
production yet.
The Ford offering resembles a Ford van with the seating, storage and loading features the
commission is mandating. Ford is building from its experience of several years now of
offering Ford Escape Hybrid in answer to Bloomberg's original request. But the court
order is putting this on hold pending further, if any, court protests. It has become a
lawyers "football". UGH.
BTW the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission has so far, rejected the GM offering.
So that is where things stand as of now. BUT it would appear HYBRID taxis for NYC have to wait for the courts to sort out "Who's in charge---federal or state?"
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