Hail a hybrid - Toyota Prius cabs for Scotland

Scottish council, West Lothian (near Edinburgh), has given the green light to a local cab company to run a fleet of Toyota Prius vehicles. The decision makes Calder Cabs the first cab company in Scotland to offer the hybrid cars after the council determined that the Prius could be licensed as a private hire vehicle.

The company, which has been serving the West Lothian/Edinburgh area for three years, has purchased six Toyota Prius each equipped with a 1.5-liter petrol engine combined with an electric motor. This means it can offer CO2 emissions of just 104g/km and combined fuel economy of 65.7mpg. It also has the ability to run solely on electric power when in traffic, which is common for taxis, so that fuel consumption and local emissions are nil.

Directors Colin Paton and Andrew Liddle said: “We are pleased to be able to respond positively to calls from the Scottish Government for businesses to look at their carbon footprint and find ways to reduce this.”