What London's Taxi EV Transition Can Teach Brussels
By Tomcabs team
On 1 January 2027, every vehicle newly registered as a taxi in Brussels will have to be zero emission. The Brussels government confirmed the date on 1 October 2026, after it had already been pushed back once from 2025.
Today, Brussels has 3,129 taxis on the road. 440 of them are electric. That is about 14% of the fleet, with less than three months to go.
London started the same journey nine years earlier. Since 1 January 2018, every taxi licensed there for the first time has had to be zero emission capable (ZEC). Today, about 7 in 10 London taxis meet that standard: 9,577 out of 13,452 licensed vehicles, according to TfL's weekly figures.
London is not Brussels. Its fleet is four times larger, its black cabs are purpose-built vehicles, and its rules allow range-extended hybrids that Brussels's "zero emission" rule may not. But London has already run into most of the problems Brussels fleets are about to face. Here is what its first nine years show.
1. A fixed date only works if it stays fixed
TfL announced its ZEC rules years ahead and then held the date. The trade complained, planned, and bought.
Brussels set its deadline in 2022 for 2025, then moved it to 2027. On 1 October 2026, the government refused a second delay.
For fleet managers: treat 1 January 2027 as final. Any purchase plan that assumes another delay is a bet, not a plan.
2. Age limits move fleets more than deadlines do
The 2018 rule only applied to new licences. What pushed old diesels out of London was the age limit. TfL lowered the maximum age of Euro 3, 4 and 5 diesel taxis to 12 years, phased in from 2019 to 2022, while ZEC taxis keep a 15-year limit. That 3-year gap gave owners a concrete reason to switch early.
TfL reports that taxi emissions fell between 2019 and 2022 (NOx down 48%, CO2 down 41%, PM2.5 down 86%).
| NOx emissions reduction | 48 % |
|---|---|
| CO2 emissions reduction | 41 % |
| PM2.5 emissions reduction | 86 % |
Brussels took a different route on 1 October. It raised age limits for both: from 7 to 9 years for combustion taxis, and from 8 to 10 years for electric, hydrogen, and wheelchair-accessible (PMR) taxis. The gap between them stays at one year.
For fleet managers: the new limits give you two more years with your current cars. They do not change what you will have to buy next. Use the time to plan the switch, not to postpone it.
3. Someone has to pay for the old cars to leave
London paid owners to retire old taxis. Its delicensing scheme, launched in 2017, paid up to £10,000 per vehicle and removed more than 4,000 older, more polluting taxis. That scheme is now closed.
The purchase grant shrank as well. The UK plug-in taxi grant was £7,500, fell to £6,000 in 2024, and to £4,000 for April 2025 to April 2026. London taxi drivers have said that, without the delicensing payment, switching got more expensive.
None of the reports on the Brussels package that we read mention a purchase grant or a scrappage payment. ⚠️ [confirm before publish]
For fleet managers: build your plan on the assumption that support will be small, short-lived, or both. If help arrives, it is a bonus.
4. Taxis need chargers of their own
Taxis do not charge like private cars. They need fast power, in the right place, during short breaks. London learned this early and built taxi-only rapid chargers. By 2025, TfL had delivered 300 rapid charge points, 80 of them dedicated to taxis.
Even so, drivers kept asking for more, and said taxi-only points were hard to find.
Brussels now plans 100 to 150 fast and ultra-fast chargers by the end of 2028, placed in busy areas, and is considering a specific tariff for taxis. Note the timing: most of those chargers will arrive after the 1 January 2027 deadline.
Meanwhile, since 1 October 2026, a public charger in Brussels costs €0.06 per minute once a vehicle has been connected for more than six hours between 09:00 and 22:00 (read our guide on the Brussels EV rotation tariff).
For fleet managers: do not plan your 2027 fleet around chargers that are promised for 2028. Secure depot or private charging first, and treat public charging as a top-up.
5. Cheap electricity is not a fixed number
In London, taxi drivers once paid about 25p per kWh at public rapid chargers. Within 18 months, pay-as-you-go prices on some networks reached 65p per kWh, according to the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association. TfL had not set price caps with its charging suppliers, because the points run on a commercial basis.
| Initial average price | 25 p/kWh |
|---|---|
| Peak pay-as-you-go price | 65 p/kWh |
The lesson is not that EVs cost more to run. It is that the saving depends on a price you do not control.
For fleet managers: model your EV costs with a range, not a single price. Ask what happens to your margin per km if public charging doubles. If the answer hurts, depot charging is worth more than it looks.
6. Depending on one vehicle is a risk
London's rules require every taxi to be wheelchair accessible. In practice, that made one model, the LEVC TX, the default choice for new black cabs. Reports in 2026 say TX5 production is winding down and the timing of its successor is unclear. The drivers' association and Freenow have now asked TfL to suspend the 12-year age limit for older diesels, because they fear old cabs will leave the fleet faster than new ones can arrive.
Brussels faces a smaller version of this. In 2024, the Belgian taxi federation FeBeT cited a lack of suitable cars as one reason the sector was not ready. And the 1 October package allows a general exemption from the zero-emission rule for PMR taxis, which suggests the market for accessible electric taxis is still thin.
For fleet managers: list at least two vehicle models you could buy in 2027, with lead times. If you run accessible taxis, check how the PMR exemption will apply to you once the legal text is out.
What London does not tell you
London's numbers do not prove that Brussels will reach 70% electric in eight years. London started earlier, paid more, and allowed hybrids that cover a minimum electric range. Brussels starts later, with less money on the table, a stricter "zero emission" rule, and a smaller, denser market. Some lessons transfer. The timeline does not.
Checklist for Brussels fleet managers
- List every taxi with its first registration date. Mark when it hits the new limit: 9 years (combustion) or 10 years (electric, hydrogen, PMR).
- For each vehicle that leaves the fleet after 1 January 2027, plan an electric replacement and a purchase date.
- Shortlist at least two models and get delivery times in writing.
- Secure charging you control (depot, private, or contracted) before you rely on public chargers.
- Model cost per km with at least two electricity prices: today's and a higher one.
- Track how long each vehicle spends charging, and when.
- Brief drivers on the rotation tariff: after six hours connected between 09:00 and 22:00, every minute costs €0.06.
- Plan for breakdowns: under the new rules, a combustion replacement vehicle can be used for 6 months, renewable once.
- Watch for the legal texts, any taxi-specific charging tariff, and any purchase support.
One last thing
London's transition is not one decision. It is thousands of small ones: which car to buy, when to charge, which vehicle to retire, which shift to cover. Tomcabs brings taxis, shifts, races and payments into one workspace, so operators can see what their fleet is actually doing while they make those decisions.