The Bradford Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) has provided data analysis support to secure £4.1 million in grant funding so that taxi drivers in the city can transition to fully electric vehicles.

The Data Strand of the Bradford HDRC has provided data analysis support through survey analysis and the generation of maps using geo-spatial data to provide unique and revealing insights into the barriers preventing Bradford taxi drivers from going electric. The analysis, performed by Robert Shore, Data Manager, and Dr Caroline Tait, Public Health Consultant, contributed to Bradford Council utilising £4.1 million of Government grant funding for the Bradford licenced taxi trade to assist with the running costs of a fully electric vehicle.

In parallel, there are enhanced discussions with British Telecoms Group (BT) on a project which could see the installation of electric vehicle charging points on streets within the Bradford district. The analysis outputs provided hard evidence to show the locations of Bradford taxi drivers and where their preferred electric charging locations would be.

As part of this project, the HDRC Data Strand was provided with survey responses on electric vehicles from over 1,200 taxi drivers across the district. 67.6% of respondents reported they were considering driving a fully electric taxi. Further analysis found that most taxi drivers would consider transitioning to electric if they had access to either off road (drive or garage) or on street dedicated parking charging points. Geo-spatial data was used to generate maps to track responses based on Bradford postcodes and identify locations to support taxi drivers charging their electric vehicles.

The survey provided an awareness of the new Bradford licenced taxis grants for fully electric vehicles.  Since the launch of the fully electric taxi grants there has been 873 applications with 103 grants already paid to drivers and a further 439 applications in various stages of process.

The support provided by the Data Strand of the Bradford HDRC was crucial in understanding the barriers to accessing electric vehicles in the Bradford district and is a clear example of the way in which the HDRC is working with the council to address the wider determinants of health in Bradford.