After London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, announced a plan that would require all new taxis presented for licensing in the capital to be zero-emissions capable from 1 January 2018, manufacturers seem to be racing to outdo each other in presenting electric taxis.

We saw Nissan's e-NV200 London Taxi and the Metrocab, but now there are other companies interested in being the supplier of such vehicles.

BYD delivered a fleet of 50 e6 electric cars a half year ago to the UK and now announced that 20 of them will join the Thriev taxi fleet.

"BYD, which is bringing its range of pure electric private hire vehicles to Europe, has teamed up with Thriev to provide 20 BYD e6 cars to the company’s emission-free London chauffeur-driven fleet within the next few weeks."

With the first batch of e6 taxis already on the road, BYD seems to be taking the lead in London,. However, with the zero-emissions capable requirement not going into effect until 2018, there is still 4 years to see how this all plays out.

What is Thriev and what is its plan?

"Thriev offers low-cost, zero-emission, chauffeured cars to corporate and private users in London. The company is rolling out an electric car programme complete with its own rapid chargers, cars and state-of-the-art car/charger scheduling systems. Part of the deal with BYD is that Thriev will equip its facility at Edgware Road, west London, with BYD’s purpose-designed charging equipment, which allows fast charging of the e6 in just two hours."

With a 2-hour fast charge, the BYD e6 would be able to drive two shifts a day and hundreds of kilometers a day (about 250 km/155 miles at once and then another 250km/155 miles).

"Initially, the e6 fleet is being supplied on a lease arrangement, although both BYD and Thriev expect this to be the beginning of a long-term relationship that will go some way to fulfilling a joint BYD and Thriev vision of a ‘green city solution’ – the transitioning of key public and personal transport vehicles from petrol and diesel power to pure electric."

BYD ebus Enter Service in London

Let's not forget that from December, BYD also has had electric buses in London.

Commenting on the agreement with Thriev, Isbrand Ho, BYD Europe’s Managing Director, statedd:

“We have been looking at various options to bring our e6 and its proven emissions-free technology to London. We are convinced that in Thriev we have found the right partner to do this – we share many of the same objectives of providing safe, reliable and efficient green transport in cities."

Arvind Vij, CEO and a co-founder of Thriev remarked: