Climatecars
| Company type | green car service |
|---|---|
| Industry | Transport |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Nicko Williamson |
| Headquarters | Battersea, England, London , UK |
Area served | Greater London |
| Services | Minicab |
| Website | Climatecars.com |
Climatecars is a London, England private hire car service which uses solely hybrid and electric cars in its fleet. The company promotes itself as a green alternative to black taxi and minicab companies based in London.
History
[edit]Climatecars was founded in 2007 by Nicko Williamson, a University of Bristol graduate.[1][2] Williamson studied the market and worked for an existing car service before starting his company.
Like other private car services, Climatecars cannot be hailed; they must be booked online or over the telephone, usually charge fixed prices, and can't use bus lanes.[3] Drivers pass a less stringent test that taxi drivers.
In 2011, the company raised £200,000 from Clydesdale bank and used the money to expand its fleet of vehicles.[4] That year Williamson was voted Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year,[5] received a BusinessGreen Leader Award,[6] and was also awarded the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award at the Fast Growth Business Awards Ceremony.[7]
Climatecars provides Belu bottled water for its customers; the bottles are made from corn starch, and the company uses profits to support water development projects in Africa.[8]
IN 2012 Climatecars released an iPhone app to help its customers order car service.[9]
In 2013, Sam Cropper was appointed CEO of Climatecars.[10][11] At that time the company was operating about 100 vehicles, but has since expanded to about 150.[12][13]
In 2015, Climatecars was acquired by car service company Addison Lee,[14] as a way of expanding its fleet while reducing average emission rates.[15]
Technology and environment
[edit]Climatecars uses hybrid and fully electric cars to keep emissions to a minimum. Their fleet is made up primarily of the Toyota Prius hybrid[16] plus some fully electric Renault Fluence vehicles.[17] Climatecars emissions from the Prius are 89 g/km and the Fluence is 71g/km (when charged off the UK grid), which is versus 233 g/km for the latest Black Taxi (LTI TX4).[18]
References
[edit]- ^ Staff Writer. "Nigel Vaz's people worth knowing: the SapientNitro European MD and guest-editor of The Drum reveals top social entrepreneurs to watch". The Drum, 2014 06 26.
- ^ "Nicko Williamson Talks About Launching Climatecars, His London Eco Car Service". The Huffington Post UK. 17 December 2012.
- ^ "Updated: Climatecars drives into Addison Lee boycott row". Business Green, 20 April 2012 Jessica Shankleman
- ^ "Climatecars steers forward with £200,000". Growth Business, 13 April 2011
- ^ "Nicko Williamson wins 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards". London: Angel News. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ "BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2011: Nicko Williamson electrifies the green taxi market". BusinessGreen, 13 July 2011 Will Nichols
- ^ "Young Entrepreneur of the Year , Climatecars (Nicko Williamson)". London: Growing Business, Crimson Publishing Ltd, Westminster House, Kew Road, Richmond TW9 2ND. 20 December 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ "Climatecars - New Green Cab Service in London". TreeHugger.
- ^ "Climatecars - The eco-friendly car service, reviewed - Coolsmartphone". Coolsmartphone.
- ^ "How I Work: Sam Cropper, CEO of Climatecars". Lifehacker, 8 Dec 2014
- ^ Donna Ferguson. "What are the highest paid jobs of 2014?". the Guardian.
- ^ Super User. "New CEO Cropper promises rapid growth at Climatecars".
- ^ "TechReview - The latest Future Technology, Education and Environmental News".
- ^ "Addison Lee acquires Young Gun-founded car service Climate Cars". Startups, 21 May 2015. by Henry Williams
- ^ "Addison Lee gets into zero emission gear with Climate Cars acquisition". Business Green, 26 May 2015 Jessica Shankleman.
- ^ "Investigations - Science and Technology - When will we see a green taxi industry? - The Ecologist". The Ecologist. 23 August 2010.
- ^ Mihnea Radu. "First Renault Fluence Z.E. Delivered in UK". autoevolution.
- ^ "Climatecars launches first ever zero-emission minicab" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. EN Kirsty Hewitt