Blackpool's Premier Taxis adds five MG 5 EV estates to its fleet of more than 100 electric cabs

Premier Taxis, based on Lytham Road in Blackpool, already operates one of the UK’s largest fleet of electric taxis and has now added five new MG 5 EVs to upgrade its range of hybrid-powered Toyota Auris estates.

The new MGs are capable of around 200-miles on a single charge and £125,000 was invested by the firm for them.

Steve Foster has worked for Premier for eight years and collected his MG last week, replacing a hybrid Toyota.

He said: “I have already been managing more than 200 miles on a single charge. I plug it in at home at 5pm and that will last me until the following day at 5pm.

“Our old Ford Mondeos cost £22 to get to Manchester Airport which dropped to £13 with the Toyotas. With the MG it will cost hardly anything for the same trip so they make great sense for a taxi driver.”

Managing director John Cutler describes the new estates as a ‘win-win-win’ for the firm, its drivers and its customers.

He said: “The public are going to travel in a mode of transport that is not adding to the pollution problems in the town and we have got a climate emergency situation in Blackpool, which was declared by the council.

“These cars are something that helps in that regard and we saved around 3600 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions last year and the taxi fleet travelled around five million miles.

Premier has a fleet of more than 100 electric vehicles, including vehicles such as Nissan Leafs and NV-200 vans.

The firm has previously been named the best in the country for its efforts to go green and in 2019 Premier was awarded private hire/taxi company of the year in the GreenFleet Awards.

For 2021, the company is now using the single contact number of (01253) 401000 across the whole of the Fylde coast but the other numbers will remain in service for the time being.