Cabbies in Nottingham can now wirelessly charge their electric taxis as part of a new trial which is set to launch in the city for the first time. Nineteen local taxi drivers have so far volunteered to test a free cab as Nottingham City Council will be monitoring the trial.
This will be delivered through Wireless Charging of Electric Taxis (WiCET) - a £3.4 million project funded by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles through Innovate UK to assess the viability of deploying wireless charging for electric hackney cabs. The City Council secured £930,000 from the Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles through Innovate UK for the WiCET project.
This is a UK first involving both London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) and Nissan Dynamo electric taxis. The first physical trials will commence in Nottingham.
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It is believed that the trial of the wireless charging technology will be "easy and convenient". This also aims to reduce street clutter as no cables will be used in the process.
The project is led by Cenex, with partners Coventry University, Hangar-19, Nottingham City Council, Shell Research Limited, Sprint Power and Transport for London, with Lumen Freedom supplying the hardware. Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Transport and Parks, Councillor Audra Wynter, said: “I’m delighted to see Nottingham’s UK-leading wireless taxis hit the streets.
"This amazing new technology will make it easy and convenient for taxi drivers to charge their vehicles on-street between passengers and make a big difference in local air quality. This is another example of Nottingham leading the way in transport innovation, as we lead the country to become carbon neutral by 2028.”
Richard Sander, WiCET Project Manager and Technical Specialist at Cenex, said: "Wireless charging has the potential for effective deployment across a wide range of applications from public transport to emergency vehicles and mobility solutions, and the results from our research will go on to inform future deployments.
“We are extremely proud to be starting the first physical trial of Wireless Charging of taxis in the UK here in Nottingham. This is a big step in understanding and demonstrating the potential of wireless charging as a core technology in the Electric Vehicle transition. Everyone involved in the project has worked hard behind the scenes to get us to this point, and I’m excited to see the impacts this will have for drivers, passengers and the environment.”.
The launch is coming in the same week that Nottingham announced a 57 per cent drop in carbon dioxide emissions since 2005. The Council’s Future Transport Zone Programme is overseeing several projects, including the e-scooter rental trial.
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