Tesla scores large order from taxi company in Germany

More taxi companies are starting to look at electric vehicles, and especially Tesla vehicles, not only to reduce emissions but also to reduce costs.

Now a Düsseldorf taxi company announced that they ordered 50 Tesla Model 3 vehicles to update their fleet.

Taxi Norman operates a fleet of 150 vehicles in Düsseldorf, and they just added their first two electric vehicles: two Model S sedans.

RP Online reported (translated from German):

The procurement of the future draft horses of the company reportedly cost a total of €230,000. Managing Director Erol Norman explains, however, that this is only the beginning.’ Another 50 electric-powered Mode 3 taxis are expected to be added over the next few weeks, each worth €45,000. It is an investment that is also advocated in politics. ‘I would like to thank Mr. Norman on behalf of the city for taking the first step here. It is an important step in reducing the CO2 pollution in the city and ensuring that the air is clean,’ said the chairman of the environmental committee, Philipp Tacer (SPD). He wants to change the taxi regulations to build four to five exclusive stopping places for electric taxis. These are intended for locations such as Königsallee or Toulouser Allee.

Norman said that they expect to achieve significant savings with the new electric vehicles:

Electric cars are also much easier to care for. An old car costs us €6,000 a year. The expenses are now gone. We also save on fuel costs through cheaper electricity. The car has only been driving this morning, and the driver has already received a tip of €15 because the customer simply thought it was great to drive in an electronic car.

After adding the 50 new Tesla Model 3 vehicles and the two Model S sedans, the company plans to switch the entire fleet to electric taxis by 2023.

Tesla Taxi

As previously reported, Tesla’s vehicles are becoming particularly popular with taxis in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway, and are starting to get there in the US, too, like Columbus Yellow Cab’s fleet.

We previously covered the very first Tesla Taxi driver in North America when his Model S hit 100,000 miles in 2017.

The best example of a Tesla taxi fleet is in Amsterdam, where they have been operating a fleet of over 100 Tesla taxis for years and even updated their fleet with Model X SUVs last year.

Model 3 is just starting to attract the interest of taxi companies.

Earlier this year, we reported on Columbus Yellow Cab announcing that it bought 10 Tesla Model 3 vehicles in order to accelerate the electrification of their fleet of 170 taxis.

We also heard of a fleet of 40 Tesla Model 3s in Madison, Wisconsin, becoming the first all-electric taxi service in the US.

Electrek’s Take

Yesterday, I got back to Montreal after spending a few months in Paris. For my ride to the airport, I used Blacklane (get 20% off by using code 87RPK3WV), which has an option for drivers with Tesla vehicles.

The driver and I got to talking about his Model S, which has over 300,000 miles on the odometer.

He loves the car, but he also loves that he is saving $800 a month in fuel costs.

It really benefits professional drivers and taxi companies. They should start doing the math and see if an electric car works for them based on their mileage.