Electric Taxi Deal Between BYD & Green Tomato Cars Falls Through

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The deal between BYD and London-based Green Tomato Cars, one that would have seen BYD supply 50 EVs to the taxi company, has apparently now fallen through.

Signed all the way back in October 2012, the deal was for BYD to supply 50 of its e6 electric cars. As it stand currently, all 500 or so of Green Tomato’s cars are Toyota Prius hybrids.

No clear reason has been given yet for why the deal’s been terminated, according to the Telegraph — simply that the two companies had “mutually decided that we will not pursue this venture further.” Whatever that means.

There’s a silver lining to all of this, though. The 20 BYD e6’s that have already been shipped to London will still enter use. They have been taken on by the zero-emission chauffeur service Thriev.

Autoblog Green provides some context on the recent happening:

London government leadership, and specifically Mayor Boris Johnson, is pushing hard for more plug-in cabs as a way to reduce both fuel consumption and air pollution. The extended-range plug-in Metrocab, which is made by UK-based Frazer-Nash, is slated to debut in the city later this year. Those six-seat vehicles are said to have fuel economy of 75 miles per gallon equivalent. And by next year, Nissan is expected to deploy some of its all-electric NV200 vehicles to London for cab use.

Perhaps Green Tomato Cars has its eye on a different partnership? Or perhaps the company is having internal problems?

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