Skip to main content

Mexico's first electric taxis

Mexico's capital has taken delivery of the country's first all-electric taxi cabs under an agreement to promote eco-friendly vehicle use between Japan-headquartered Nissan Motor and the local government.
March 1, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Mexico's capital has taken delivery of the country's first all-electric taxi cabs under an agreement to promote eco-friendly vehicle use between Japan-headquartered 2454 Nissan Motor and the local government.

The government of Mexico City intends to provide incentives such as excluding electric vehicles from the emissions verification programme, waiving yearly car registration, permitting them to travel in special lanes and offering preferential parking spots in a bid to encourage usage of electric vehicles. By the end of this year, the programme plans to deploy 100 new electric vehicles and a second quick-charge station.

Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City, together with Nissan and US-based 3500 General Electric, the supplier of the quick-charge equipment, launched the first three taxis into operational service last week. Increased use of electric vehicles in the city will certainly help reduce the eye-wateringly high smog levels. However whether battery powered vehicles will appeal to more than a handful of Mexico City's notoriously pedal-to-the-metal cab drivers remains to be seen.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • France’s big 2013 rise in electric & hybrid vehicle sales
    January 16, 2014
    Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles were up significantly in France in 2013 compared to 2012, reports Avere France. Electric utility vehicle sales were up 42% to 5,175 units, electric sales rose 50% year-on-year to 8,779 units, and there was a 60% rise in hybrid car sales to 46,785 units. In the latter segment, Toyota is still the leader with 27,536 vehicles sold thanks to the Yaris, Auris and Prius. In electric cars, the Zoé (Renault) is the leader with market share of around 63%, in front of the Leaf
  • Innovative earthmoving machines now coming to market
    October 14, 2015
    Innovation in earthmoving machines will help users reduce running costs while boosting productivity - Mike Woof writes. The earthmoving equipment market is hotly contested and is one in which manufacturers compete hard to introduce machines with working advantages over rival models. This has fuelled strong competition in terms of machine performance and quality over the years, resulting in the development of high-performance equipment that is also reliable and long lasting. This is particularly true of the
  • Step up Action! IRF in New York for the launch of the UN Road Safety Fund
    June 15, 2018
    The Road Safety community gathered in New York on 12th-13th April for the launch of a new United Nations Road Safety Trust Fund. The new UN Fund is intended to catalyse road safety action across the globe, using donations to help unlock new government and municipal funding and refocus national road safety budgets towards proven ‘Safe System’ interventions. The FIA Foundation has pledged a donation of US$10 million to kick-start the fund launched by UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed. The FIA Found
  • Terex Bid-Well appoints new distributor in Mexico
    July 12, 2018
    Terex Bid-Well has appointed Sistemas Mecánicos e Hidráulicos, (SIMEHSA) as the distributor for its paving equipment in Mexico. Tim Rubalcaba, international sales manager for Terex Bid-Well said, "The excellent reputation of SIMEHSA together with its principles, infrastructure and knowledge of Terex Bid-Well equipment will be of great service to our customers in Mexico and the Mexican market as a whole." SIMEHSA has a long history associated with the paving market with sliding equipment and equipment for c