Volkswagen looks forward to ride-pooling market with all-electric minibus

Volkswagen has revealed an all-electric minibus to target metropolitan consumers who prefer to spend for the use instead of owning a vehicle, enhancing the German company’s push into brand-new kinds of online-controlled personal transport services.

Volkswagen’s new MOIA “mobility services” department on Monday announced plans for a fully electric international ride-pooling service that intends to eliminate 1 million cars from European and U.S. cities by 2025.

MOIA from next year will launch 200 of the six-seater buses in Hamburg, Germany’s 2nd most populated city, providing passengers quick internet access to and USB ports to charge phones and tablet computers, MOIA CEO Ole Harms stated at a technology conference.

Berlin-based MOIA will extend its Hamburg-based electric-bus fleet to 1,000 units under 3 years and target other cities from 2019, Harms stated, refusing to provide additional information.

“We will return the cities to individuals,” Harms stated, adding the ride-pooling plans will help to substantially decrease urban congestion at costs which are cheaper than taxi rides.

Harms rejected to discuss costs and the economics of the strategies, though he stated the Hamburg project would initially be performing at a loss.

But the development of ride-hailing services and the possibility of driverless vehicles will motivate people to switch to spend for private journeys rather than buying their own vehicles, he predicted.

“The market is limitless,” Harms said.

Having a hard time to draw a line under its 2015 diesel emissions scandal, the automaker created MOIA a year ago with a view to it creating a significant share of group revenues by 2025 as it invests billions of euros in electrification, ride-hailing and self-driving cars.

MOIA will make use of Volkswagen’s modular platforms to construct the new electric bus which can run for about 300 kilometers (186 miles) on a single battery charge and requires about 30 minutes to recharge to 80 percent of complete capacity, Harms said.