Nissan Wins NYC’s Wins Taxi of Tomorrow Competition
SustainableBusiness
Nissan North America has won New York City’s "Taxi of Tomorow" competition to turn the city’s taxicabs from yellow to green.
The company will use the $1 billion contract to manufacturefuel-efficient minivans that can eventually run on electricity.The minivans will replace NYC’s 13,000 yellow taxis, which serve some600,000 people each year - the cabs will be phased out over the nextthree to five years.
The Nissan minivan will be NYC’s exclusive taxicab for a decade.
Nissan’s NV200 will be a modified version of its NV200 minivan, and will be driving on NY streets in 2013. The vehicle gets 25 miles per gallon, more than double that of the current taxi fleet, which consists mostlyof Ford Crown Victorias.
Fuel efficiency and emissions were not the primary criteria, but theNV200 is the most fuel efficient of the three finalists. It scores 6 on a scale of 10 on pollution, according to the EPA.
As part of the contract, Nissan will do a pilot to test an electricversion of the minivan, which it is expected to manufacture starting in2017. It will also provide about six electric LEAF cars for use as taxis as well as charging stations.
It will be the first cab with passenger airbags and the first tocomplete U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crashtesting with the taxi partition and taxi equipment installed.
It also features a lot more room, a smooth ride, a sun roof, charging stations for mobile devices and GPS navigation.
The new taxis will be custom-designed to meet the specific needs of NYC, based on the priorities identified by the public in an online survey:environmental sustainability; passenger comfort; safety.
Website: http://www.taxioftomorrow.com/
Original Article on SustainableBusiness.com
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