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The LEVC TX (previously known as the TX5) is a purpose-built
hackney carriage A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common ...
manufactured by the British commercial vehicle maker
London EV Company London EV Company Limited (LEVC, formerly The London Taxi Corporation Limited trading as The London Taxi Company) is a British automotive electric vehicle manufacturer with its headquarters at Ansty near Coventry, England, and a wholly-owne ...
(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 s ...
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 entrepreneu ...
. 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 Zero emission refers to an engine, motor, process, or other energy source, that emits no waste products that pollute the environment or disrupt the climate. Zero emission engines Vehicles and other mobile machinery used for transport (over land, se ...
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 status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), 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 ...
. 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 The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
-sourced 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine. The LEVC TX is fitted with a battery pack supplied by
LG Chem LG Chem Ltd. (Korean: LG화학), often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the 10th largest chemical company in the world by sales in 2017. It was first established ...
, 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'', '' ...
-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 CHAdeMO is a fast-charging system for battery electric vehicles, developed starting in 2010 by the CHAdeMO Association, formed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and five major Japanese automakers. The name is an abbreviation of "CHArge de MOve ...
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.


See also

*
LEVC VN5 The LEVC VN5 is a plug-in hybrid panel van produced since November 2020 by British electric vehicle manufacturer London EV Company (LEVC), a subsidiary of Chinese automobile company Geely. Overview The LEVC TX Hackney carriage was launched in ...
, a plug-in hybrid
panel van A panel van, also known as a blind van, car-derived van (United Kingdom) or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. ...
based on the LEVC TX


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