Gadgetory

the classic London black cab it probably one of those iconic vehicles in the world and been ferrying passengers around London's capital since the early half of the last century but it's now time for the historical relic to become a symbol of the future say hello then to the T X built in England by the London electric vehicle company now as you may have guessed and rather obvious company name the T X is an electrically driven cab capable of journeying through London with zero emissions now that's pretty important for a city that's already struggling with pollution comes with other modern features too like plugs for laptops and phones Wi-Fi and a built in ramp for disabled access in short it's a modern car built for the modern city but the only way for me to get to grips to the T X is to hit the road and pick up my first ever passenger I have been driven all over London in these things for years but it's the first time they've actually ever driven one I've got to say it is pretty exciting it feels a bit of a bit of a rite of passage in becoming a real Londoner and that's despite me having actually lived in the city for over eight years all I need now is to get my first passenger he goes first ever passenger where to so Windsor as in castle yeah the winds are there I'm just checking and so that's sort of like West I guess no no no no I do I do I do I see - I'm popping in the city the old sat-nav yeah sorry I'm just in a bit of a hurry I've got a meeting there and they do not like to be kept waiting ok no problem cool the route is being calculated now I have driven various electric cars before the Tesla Model S for example with its absolutely ludicrous acceleration this TX is a bit more subtle let's say I mean I'm not going to be smoking anyone off the line at the lights with this but that slower smoother acceleration this gut does give a much more comfortable Drive particularly for the people sitting in the back which would allow them to get on with some work if they needed to there's you've got power points back there by the way if you need to plug your laptop it and there's the Wi-Fi code I think should be dished up on the left here if you want to jump on the Wi-Fi good right you've got a whole little office going on back there that steady acceleration does make it not only comfortable to be in but it makes it very comfortable to drive as does sort of the very lightweight easy handling because of course this cab has the same famous tight turning circle of all the black cabs so you can get around those tiny roundabouts or do a sudden u-turn in the road sorry wrong road so did you know that this cab is electric and so this is probably the greenest trip you've ever done to Windsor you also know that London's cabs have been on the road my cab driver banter you see the game last night the sports ball game the now I know I said this is an electric car but strictly speaking it is a bit more of a hybrid because there is a petrol engine under the hood well that doesn't drive the car what it actually does it acts as a generator giving a bit more juice back to the batteries so this can do about 80 miles on electrical loan or 400 miles when it uses that extra power from the engine what it does mean though is that if I want to do this whole journey on electricity alone I will need to pull over and give the batteries a bit of a charge sorry but it's gonna have to pause for a moment to give the batteries a bit of a charge be serious yeah won't take your tick well how long two shakes of a lamb's tail it's about there you gonna okay so it's actually going to take about 20 minutes to refill the batteries to about 80% which isn't all that long but I'm not gonna tell her that because I'm pretty sure she's gonna kill me so he said I'm gonna spend the time and go get a brew yeah sorry I'm on my way but the cabbie the cabbies just stopped three churches car something no idea he said something about two shakes of a lamb's tail whatever hello I'm back told the open take long what are you talking about it's been ages I need to be there now it's not easy being green in order to become a proper license London cabbie you've got to do a test called the knowledge now that is the most difficult driving test in the entire world and demands that every single driver learn around 25,000 roads in London or from memory now my memory is mostly full of cat pictures and cake recipes so luckily I'm relying on the T X is built-in sat-nav which is particularly handy because Windsor actually isn't anywhere where I thought it was and I would have taken my first ever passenger somewhere closer to Guildford so got the castle just upon the right that's close enough yes finally I guess I'll have to do what's going on is it no can you just open the door please well that went well hang on did you pay me the thing to remember is that this isn't a proof of concept or some kind of trial the TX is here to stay where the londoners like it or not new city rules state that from this year on all new registered cabs must be capable of zero emission driving up to 300 new fast charges are being installed across London too to help the cabbies and of course other electric drivers recharge on the move now I'm not here to review this cab what would be the point it's a service vehicle we like reviewing and ambulance when you actually need one and one turns up you're hardly going to turn it away because of fuel efficiency or comfort reasons that said this is a nice place to be as a driver and of course any step towards a lower carbon footprint in the city is a good thing to do and it's good to see they've remained true to the iconic design I mean sure the back looks a bit more like a Hirst of a logo on the front will trick you into thinking you're getting into a Bentley but it's still unquestionably a classic black cab and when the city eventually bans petrol cars altogether and it will it's great to know that these icons will still be around to get me home from the pub at four in the morning where is it taking me oh god I got to take in me properly the wrong way here