Post by Roland PerryIn message
mber.org>, at 16:06:49 on Thu, 25 Jan 2018, Recliner
Post by ReclinerPost by Roland PerryIn message
ember.org>, at 14:54:40 on Thu, 25 Jan 2018, Recliner
Post by ReclinerPost by Roland PerryPost by ReclinerPost by Roland PerryPost by ReclinerPost by Roland PerryPost by ReclinerPost by Roland PerryPost by Roland Perryhttp://youtu.be/P6lMt2E0lyg
<https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1043849_new-london-taxi-steers-
from-the-rear-now-going-electric-too>
That story about a prototype was from 2010. I wonder if they
ever followed
it up with a production vehicle? I'd have thought the range was much too
low for a BEV taxi without a range extender, but if course it might be
better with today's batteries.
The thing is, whether they built one or a hundred, it was designed and
approved for the London cab market. If, as an all-electric, it flopped
(?) it shouldn't be hard to get the same approval for a London version
of the Vito hybrid in the video.
Yes, I'm sure Mercedes will want to remain in and competitive in the London
taxi market, but it might need an all-new vehicle to compete with the new
TX. Simply installing a hybrid drive train in the old steel van will
produce a very heavy vehicle, with a short battery range, lost luggage
space, and excessive petrol consumption. Mercedes is certainly capable of
building something competitive, but will have to start from scratch to do
so.
You don't think the car in the video has the potential to be that
vehicle?
Definitely not, for the reasons I stated above.
I promise not to tell Mercedes you know more about car design than their
experts.
Mercedes isn't promoting it as an electric/hybrid taxi.
Indeed, only a hybrid vehicle (electric was several years ago). With
potential. Next time, read the question before answering.
Not potential to be a London black cab with low emissions capabilities.
The spec given in the video (50km electric-only range, 90kW electric
motor, configured as an airport shuttle) is not far off. Might need a
slightly bigger battery, and replacing the diesel with a petrol engine,
but there's plenty of room.
It has only a 13.5kWh battery. Given the size and weight of the vehicle, it
would need to be about 3-4 times bigger to have a useful EV range as a
taxi. You'd need to get rid of another row of seats to fit it in.
The electric motor is only 88 kW. How do you think that will perform in a
2.5 tonne vehicle in traffic?
Compare those figures to the 33 kWh battery pack and 110 kW for the lighter
TX?
Post by Roland Perry[In case you hadn't noticed, the bit in the video about room in the
back, is for making a 7-seater].
That hybrid concept was from three years ago. Has it been launched yet as a
low emissions London cab? In fact, has it been launched at all?
Post by Roland PerryPost by ReclinerPost by Roland PerryPost by ReclinerThat would be you.
And I certainly know more about car design than you do.
Style or mechanicals? And why...
Hello!?!
Post by ReclinerPost by Roland Perry[When I was a computer designer I got fed up with people asking "why
that off-cream colour?", when that was one of the few things I hadn't
been asked to contribute to. If I had, I might even have said "because
everyone else does, and it's the equivalent of the model-T Ford's
black".]
Post by ReclinerI don't doubt that Mercedes is capable of producing a viable PHEV taxi for
London, but this wouldn't be the starting point.
The starting point according to the video is a C350 PHEV, and this is
what emerges when you want a bigger bodyshell, that happens also to be
VTEC taxi-sized.
Did you miss the part about needing a lightweight body with room under the
floor for the bulky, heavy batteries?
Room under the floor for batteries sounds like the Mercedes B-Class
(also commonplace as a taxi), but I digress.
Post by ReclinerYou can't get away with just rushing
out a bodge job like that, when a proper, custom-designed alternative is
already on the streets.
The proposition is an evolutionary (not revolutionary) competitive
vehicle from Mercedes, based on a decade of their experience in this
kind of motive power, and of course in having both diesel and electric
London cabs already approved.
That 2015 proposition, which actually seems to have disappeared without
trace (like the earlier electric one), was a quick and dirty Frankenstein
botch-up, taking the drivetrain from a small luxury car and bolting it into
a heavy van. It wouldn't have been a serious offering as a London cab,
which was presumably why Mercedes never pretended it would be. It took me
about two minutes as an engineer to see that. Mercedes seems to have even
abandoned it as a hybrid van, probably because it has a serious,
properly-engineered offering on the way.
As I keep telling you, you need a ground-up design for any competitive
vehicle of this type, with the big, heavy
batteries under the long wheelbase floor, and space for just a small engine
under the bonnet. It doesn't need a large fuel tank, as petrol consumption
will be low. The body needs to be light (to compensate for the heavy
batteries), and designed around those requirements.
It doesn't take much engineering nous to understand that, but perhaps it's
less obvious to a PR consultant?