The LEVC TX (previously known as the TX5) is a purpose-built hackney carriage manufactured by the British commercial vehicle maker London EV Company (LEVC), a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sam ...

of the Chinese auto-maker

Geely Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (ZGH), commonly known as Geely (吉利 "auspicious"), is a Chinese multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The company is privately held by Chinese billionaire entreprene ...

. It is the latest in a succession of purpose-built hackney carriages produced by LEVC and various predecessor entities. The LEVC TX is a

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engin ...

range-extender electric vehicle. The vehicle is designed to comply with Transport for London’s Taxi Private Hire regulations, which banned new diesel-powered taxis from January 2018, requiring zero-emissions capability.

Background

In the late 2000s, Geely was in talks over the possibility of converting London's black cabs into electric-powered vehicles. From 2014, Geely invested £480m in LEVC to develop a new taxi, with a new factory to be built in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

. Geely hoped to manufacture 36,000 vehicles per annum. The vehicle entered production in 2017.

Technical

The LEVC TX is built on a unique platform, underpinned by a bonded aluminium chassis built in the UK, giving the LEVC TX a 32 percent parts localisation rate by value. China and Europe each account for 32 percent of the content, while United States content is 4 percent. The LEVC TX is powered by a full-electric hybrid drivetrain. It drives in full-electric mode all the time, but is recharged by an Volvo-sourced 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine. The LEVC TX is fitted with a battery pack supplied by LG Chem, and powers a

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...

-built electric motor for traction. When the battery pack has insufficient charge to power the vehicle, the petrol engine is claimed to achieve . The charge connectors are mounted either side of the radiator grille, and are a CCS socket, capable of 50 kW DC and 22 kW AC, and an optional 50 kW capable CHAdeMO connector.

Service history

The TX took advantage of 2018 Transport for London rules that allowed only zero-emission capable vehicles to become additions to the city's taxi fleet. By February 2018 it was the only taxi capable of meeting these rules. By April 2022, over 5,000 TX vehicles has been sold in London, around a third of London's taxi fleet. In May 2022, LEVC announced that over 7,000 taxis had been sold worldwide.

References

External links

LEVC TX official website
{{London Hackney Carriage Taxicabs Taxis of the United Kingdom Taxi vehicles Cars introduced in 2017 Retro-style automobiles Electric taxis TX

Background

Technical

Service history

See also

References

External links