The Big Apple selects a greener taxi

After a two-year competition, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission has selected the Nissan NV200 as the only vehicle that will be used as taxis in New York City for at lest 10 years starting in 2014. The Nissan won out over entries from Ford and Karsan, a Turkish car company.

The NV200, a modified version of a compact commercial vehicle, will be custom-made for the taxi fleet in Mexico. Nissan will also supply six all-electric Leafs and several charging stations for testing the feasibility of an all-electric taxi fleet.

The NV2000 will cost about $29,000 and include a 2-liter four-cylinder engine that gives the car 25 mpg mileage and relatively low emissions (That's twice the mileage of the Ford Crown Victoria, the vehicle that makes up the city's current taxi fleet.)

Nissan could be making an electric version of the NV2000 in 2017, and that vehicle will also be considered for use as NYC cabs.

Currently the NYC taxi flee contains 3,500 cabs from 33 different companies. They carry 600,00 passenger per day and travel 500 million miles annually.