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Criss-crossing the Thames in London’s new plug-in cab
A hybrid-powered black taxi brings electric travel to the capital, but what’s the best way to test it? Ed Wiseman shares his knowledge
The LEVC TXE, London’s new hybrid black cab, posed a problem. We usually do something interesting with test cars, but that’s not the point of this one – it’s been designed to spend its days within the M25, driving slowly, taking humans to other parts of the metropolis.
It’s a boring job for a fascinating car. With both a petrol-powered internal combustion engine and a significant electric-only range, the plug-in hybrid is designed to improve air quality in our capital and further afield; while it is London’s black cab, its Chinese makers expect it to sell overseas as well.
In lieu of an obvious place to take it, I’m driving the new black cab across every Thames road bridge in London, from the M25 near Heathrow to its eastern periphery at Dartford. At night, in order to avoid congestion.
To my immediate west is the older, prettier, Edwin Lutyens-designed Runnymede Bridge, but I’m on the new part, built to carry the M25 and part of the A30 over the Thames. It marks the beginning of our odyssey, meandering with the river through Chertsey, Staines and Shepperton.
As we head east via Weybridge I’m surprised to learn the primary ride is unsatisfactory in the passenger compartment. Apparently the rear bench and suspension begin to show their weaknesses at about 40mph; I’m comfy in the driver’s seat, but through the Perspex divide I see my girlfriend being thrown around so I ease off the pace.
Walton Bridge is the sixth crossing to connect Walton-on-Thames with Shepperton. Its ill-fated predecessors met different ends, from wood rot in the 18th century to war in the 20th. The new one is an impressive single-span tied-arch bridge which, though less to catch the eye of Canaletto or Turner, stands out against the stone and brick used elsewhere across the Thames.
It begins to rain as we cross the bridge at Hampton Court, the taxi’s panoramic glass roof becoming a beautiful window on to the start of autumn as we turn towards Kingston, thence into the outskirts of London proper.
We dip into Richmond by crossing Richmond Bridge and leave it on Twickenham Bridge, the site of Britain’s first Gatso speed camera. Soon we reach Kew Bridge, opened in 1903 and designed in part by Sir John Wolfe Barry, best known for his work on a more famous construction downstream near the Tower of London. We follow the South Circular and turn on to Chiswick Bridge, a handsome concrete edifice clad in Portland stone.
We navigate Hammersmith’s gloomy gyratory before heading south on its magnificent suspension bridge. Sir Joseph William Bazalgette left his mark all over and under London – his work on the city’s sewers was revolutionary – but this bridge is perhaps his most fetching creation. We drive a few minutes to another from his portfolio, Putney Bridge, which is much more ordinary, with five low spans.
Sir Thomas Peirson Frank is another designer whose contributions to the capital extend beyond the Thames. He coordinated vital repair works to infrastructure during German bombing raids, but he also built Wandsworth Bridge, which still bears its blue-andgrey camouflage paintwork.
The signs at each end of Albert Bridge, which warn troops to break step as they cross, remind us of the disaster in Genoa; these tragedies are infrequent only because of the constant maintenance we take for granted.
Chelsea Bridge was Britain’s first self-anchored suspension bridge and remains the only one in London. The cityscape is dominated by Battersea Power Station and its glittery developments. Just across the river, with Thomas Cubitt’s Pimlico grid to our left
I’m comfy in the driver’s seat, but through the divide I see my girlfriend being thrown around
and the modernist Churchill Gardens estate to our right, it’s hard to look so favourably on the homes we’re currently building.
We have to look at the TXE through the same lens. The TX4, TXII and TX1 have pounded our streets for two decades, but their predecessor the Austin FX4 was largely unchanged during half a century of service. Their shapes are as much a part of the city as Admiralty Arch – LEVC’s new taxi is a similarly enormous contribution.
The centre is a ghastly place to drive and I’m grateful to be doing it in a car built for the job. Vauxhall Bridge, site of one of London’s first bus lanes, leads to Vauxhall, where we turn left towards Lambeth Bridge and Westminster.
Gothic styling on Westminster Bridge echoes that of Westminster Pal- ace. It doesn’t get more central than this, so I’m keen to make progress, which we do via Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s pleasing Waterloo Bridge, and then across the river again at Blackfriars.
The Twenties arch bridge at Southwark leads us towards London Bridge. On a Sunday night it’s eerily quiet. We pass Fishmongers’ Hall towards one of our strangest landmarks yet one of the most famous buildings in London. A bascule bridge with suspension spans and neo-gothic towers, Tower Bridge opened in 1894 as a gateway to the city.
It takes half an hour to reach the QE2 Bridge, or Dartford Crossing, which carries the A282 rather than the M25. At one point it was the biggest cablestayed bridge in Europe and, to me at least, is a more appropriate gateway than Tower Bridge 15 miles upstream.
It has taken five hours to traverse the Thames bridges. It’s not a route we’d recommend for fun, but the view from this hybrid-powered cab is a unique perspective on our everchanging yet fiercely traditional capital.
It’s 2am by the time we get back to our flat. My girlfriend has finally succumbed to sleep and is slumped across the back seat, her exhausted form crumpled beneath the street lights like many millions of late-night cab passengers past, present and future.
I simply don’t have the heart to tell her the fare.