NYC just lost a court case where they were going to require one particular make of taxi. And then that taxi was a four-cylinder mini-van that gets 25 MPG .
I would have recommended something like a Chrysler 300 with a MB BlueTec V6 turbo-diesel and that would be something like 30 MPG . Also, these new tur bo-diesels don't puff smoke, meet emission requirements, and have a lot of torque. Of course high-torque engines are perfect for city driving .
More likely available would be the VW Passat TDI with a four-cylinder turbo
-diesel and that gets 30/40 MPG .
But NYC could use this taxi setback as an opportunity to do something else. NYC could require zero-tailpipe taxi emissions for the year 2018 or so.
Now how can taxi's be zero-tailpipe emissions ? Well, since they can use ce ntral refueling locations the taxi's could be fuel-cell vehicles. And sever al car makers have been saying that fuel-cell vehicles would be available a round the year 2015. In fact the country of Germany is planning a system of hydrogen refueling stations .
And so NYC, which has very large and concentrated taxi usage, could have fu el-cell taxi's.
Of course, a fuel-cell vehicle produces electricity from hydrogen (without combustion) and that runs an electric motor. The fuel-cell vehicle has the advantage over an electric-vehicle in that it weighs less and can be refuel ed quickly .
Then the hydrogen is produced by steaming natural gas at a commercial plant . It is possible to reform the hydrogen from natural gas at the refueling s tation but this is not often done (except at waste treatment plants which r eform hydrogen from their methane gas) .
Furthermore, there is significant usage of fuel-cell forklifts at major war ehouses . And there are funded projects of city buses using fuel-cells .