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CLIMATE

Electric-driven ‘London cabs’ part of Copenhagen green effort

Copenhagen’s new City Ring Metro line opens this weekend, but it is not the only addition to transportation in the Danish capital.

Published: 27 September 2019 14:56 CEST
Electric-driven 'London cabs' part of Copenhagen green effort
London or Copenhagen? Stock image: stocksnapper/Depositphotos

Two new electric taxis are set to stand out from the crown on Copenhagen’s roads, given their strong resemblance to London’s iconic black cabs.

The new cars, made by the London EV Company (LEVC), are primarily powered by electricity and part of a six-month trial testing potential greener alternatives in the hired carriage sector. 

“We are launching a car that is primarily electric. That means it will be recharged with electricity and there is also an extra motor that can recharge the battery,” Gert Frost, CEO of Taxa 4×35, the company which owns the vehicles, told Ritzau.

The cabs can travel 100 kilometres on electric power alone before the motor kicks in, giving a maximum range of 400 kilometres.

“It’s difficult to recharge a taxi that is used 24 hours a day. There aren’t enough paces to do it and it takes a very long time,” Frost said.

“That’s why this is the best option for us right now,” he added.

Particle emissions from the vehicles are significantly lower than traditional vehicle types. The electric, black cabs emit 29 grams of CO2 per kilometre, almost 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre less than a 2019 Mercedes taxi.

Although the trial only includes two vehicles, Taxa 4×35 said it was open to extending the fleet.

“We expect to test costs, practicalities, and how users experience using this type of taxi,” Frost said.

“Potentially, all taxis could look like this. In the modern world, many taxis are going to have to fulfil the need to be green,” he added.

Dantaxi, another Danish cab firm, has 25 Tesla cars and another 10 electric cars in its service.

Taxa 4×35’s distinctive vehicles cannot be ordered specifically by passengers, and fares will be the same as for the company’s other cars.

READ ALSO: Denmark launches hydrogen-powered taxis in bid to clear emissions

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CLIMATE

Central and southern Italy brace for storms and heavy snow

Storms and snowfall are forecast across much of central and southern Italy over the next few days, according to weather reports.

Published: 29 November 2021 15:13 CET
Snow is forecast in the hills of much of central and southern Italy.
Snow is forecast in the hills of much of central and southern Italy. Photo: Miguel MEDINA / AFP

Italy’s Civil Protection Department on Monday issued ‘orange’ alerts for bad weather along Campania’s Tyrrhenian coastline and the western part of Calabria, while Sicily, Basilicata, Lazio, Molise, Umbria, Abruzzo, central-western Sardinia, and the remaining areas of Campania and Calabria are under a lower-level ‘yellow’ weather warning.

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is warning Italy’s central-southern regions to prepare for a blast of polar air from the Arctic Circle that will bring heavy snowfall, rain and storms, reports national weather forecaster Il Meteo.

The village of Grotte di Castro in the province of Viterbo, two hours’ drive north of Rome, mountainous parts of Sardinia, and much of the province of Campobasso in the central-eastern region of Molise were already blanketed in snow on Monday morning.

The department is responsible for predicting, preventing and managing emergency events across the country, and uses a green, yellow, orange and red graded colour coding system for weather safety reports.

An orange alert signifies a heavy rainfall, landslide and flood risk, while a yellow alert warns of localised heavy and potentially dangerous rainfall.

The current meteorological conditions mean that snow is expected to reach unusually low altitudes of around 450-500 metres, with flakes already falling thickly on parts of the southern-central Apennines mountain range at 500-700 metres altitude.

The hills of Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Lazio, Sardinia, Campania, Calabria and Basilicata are likely to see heavy snow around the 500m mark, while areas at an altitude of 1000m or higher will see between 50-60 cm of fresh snow.

Affected parts of the country could see 50-60cm of snowfall.

Affected parts of the country could see 50-60cm of snowfall. Photo: Vincenzo PINTO /AFP

In areas where the snow is unlikely to reach, heavy rains and thunderstorms are anticipated, with rain forecast throughout Sardinia, Campania, Calabria and Lazio, reports Il Meteo.

Strong winds are forecast over the whole country, with the island regions of Sicily and Sardinia facing windspeeds of over 100km/hour and the risk of storm surges, according to the national newspaper La Repubblica.

READ ALSO: Climate crisis: The Italian cities worst affected by flooding and heatwaves

The north of the country, meanwhile, will see sun but low temperatures of below 0°C at night in many areas, including across much of the Po Valley.

While conditions are expected to stabilise on Tuesday, cold currents from Northern Europe are forecast to trigger another wave of bad weather on Wednesday and Thursday, with Sardinia and Italy’s western coastline again at risk of storms and heavy rainfall that will move up towards Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Veneto in the north.

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