| 
March
2008
TAXIS
ALREADY GREEN
It comes
as no surprise that the Victorian government is searching
for ways to demonstrate its commitment to climate change issues
and carbon emission reductions/controls. I’ve got no
argument with this.
What does
come as a surprise and is justifiably arguable though is that
the taxi industry has been targeted yet again for the sake
of the government being seen to be doing something about emissions.
For decades
the taxi industry has been Green – using LPG and a vehicle
fleet that on average is about three years old thereby having
up-to-date vehicle emission control systems.
For the
government to now hail petrol/electric hybrid vehicles as
a way ahead for the Victorian taxi industry is illogical and
short sighted.
The current
range of hybrid vehicles use petrol engines and electricity
from batteries. Yes, petrol, not LPG.
Two other
issues with hybrid vehicles jump to mind, apart from petrol.
The battery
life is unknown, but replacement batteries appear to be unavailable.
There also remains the question of how a faulty battery can
be disposed of without polluting.
And, there
is the maintenance cost of the vehicle – for example,
a replacement differential is about triple the price of a
Falcon or Commodore differential, and stock is not readily
available.
As anyone
in business will know, it’s not just the initial price
that counts but rather the whole of life cost that is most
important.
It seems
that the government might believe that if it’s good
enough for New York City to go hybrid, then it’s good
enough for Victoria. This is false thinking because New York
cabs have petrol guzzling V8 engines – not LPG. (Often
the taxis are ex-Police vehicles)
As I said,
the Victorian taxi industry is already Green and has been
so for decades – quite unlike the government owned fleet,
including those used by parliamentarians (some with 8 pots).
I’m
not suggesting hybrid vehicles are not the way of the future.
On the contrary, hybrid technology is improving all the time,
but the taxi industry needs vehicles that are big enough (people
and luggage), perform under “work horse conditions”,
are maintenance cost friendly, are operating cost friendly,
have parts readily available, and have useful and trouble
free life of more than 600, 000 kilometres.
I doubt
that the petrol/electric hybrid as we know it is the way of
the future; rather it is more likely that the future for taxis
is “new” diesel. Oh, and don’t overlook
Hydrogen, even if it is some way off.
Sorry
Mr Brumby, I think you have jumped a bit too early on your
hybrid solution. Oh, and how on earth was the $5,000 annual
saving in fuel calculated?
Neil Sach
VTA CEO
|
