What's Next: Electric Taxis to Test in Tokyo

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Anyone who’s been to Tokyo is immediately struck by two things. First, the living spaces in Japan’s capital make the Big Apple’s cramped domiciles look like a suite at the Trump Tower, and second, the city is at the cutting edge of technology. So while it’s not surprising that the city will be a test bed for electric taxi cabs, I was struck by how simply the city’s largest cab company and its partner, Better Place, are choosing to handle the problem of limited range. Instead of pouring tons of money into the research and development of a long-range cell, the pair is aiming to make a battery which can be swapped out quickly at stations around the city, so that a fresh charge would take about as long as filling a conventional gas tank. Pretty cool idea, huh? More over at Wired.

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Posted at 4:50 pm in Catrol Edge, Electric Taxis, Green, John Coyle, What's Next

Comments

GTwildfire
Aug 28, 2009 at 12:22 pm

until adequate battery technology makes it into the cars, taxis and such’ll have to do the swapping game. It’s an idea that’s been around for a long time and pretty much the only recourse until swapping isn’t needed anymore.
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Those suckers will be heavy though, so most likely there won’t be just one battery being swapped, more like 2, 3 or 4.

___nes___
Aug 28, 2009 at 11:48 am

This make sense!!! Steps like these should be taken in big cities like New York, where the main means of transportation are taxis.

PureBusiness
Aug 27, 2009 at 5:17 pm

sound like a fresh approach to me!

TOPlamborghini
Aug 27, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Woah, at first glance i thought it said Electric tanks, lmao. But that is cool, imagine how much gas that would save.