BRUMMIES HAIL HYDROGEN TAXI

25-10-2007

It is bright yellow, three metres long, makes no noise, runs on hydrogen and is coming soon to a taxi rank near you. Check out this groundbreaking, environmentally-friendly taxi cab developed and made in the West Midlands which is to debut on Birmingham's roads next year.

The Microcab was designed by Coventry entrepreneur John Jostins, who has invented and prototyped the vehicle over the past ten years. John's name will be familiar to movie buffs because although he's a lecturer at Cov University these days, in the 1970's he worked in cinematic special effects and helped design the Star wars robot R2D2.

It was while designing futuristic vehicles for Dennis Potter's sci-fi mini-film Cold Lazarus in the mid-90s that John first came up with the Microcab concept. In recent years, the Microcab has been prototyped and showcased around the world as a glimpse of future transport.

It can cover 100 miles on a full tank of hydrogen, which is a typical day's usage for a city centre taxi. The prototype has been such a success that the Government has funded a trial of five vehicles which will be hitting the roads in Birmingham next year.

And a consortium of West Midlands-based manufacturers has been assembled with a view to producing 1,500 of the high-tech vehicles each year by 2012.

John has now been short listed for a prestigious innovation prize, the Lord Stafford Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit which is being announced on November 15 at a glitzy ceremony at the NEC sponsored by Advantage West Midlands.