London taxis going electrical, old sport, didn't you know?

The iconic TX4 taxis that crowd the streets of London are going to be getting an overhaul. In the interest of reducing costs, improving air quality, and replacing the aging fleet, they’ll be introducing new TX4 E electric taxis starting in early 2009. I think we can all agree that the air in London could use a bit of scrubbing; maybe they could mount big filters on the tops of these things as well.

Pricing hasn’t been determined, but I think taxis pay for themselves pretty well, especially when the price of gas is taken out of the equation. In fact, the new taxis, running on the vaunted LiFePO4 batteries, will be running at the cost of about one American dime per mile. And yet you’ll still be paying a quid a minute for the privilege. Strange that.