Scientists from Nanyang Technological University and Technische Universitat Munchen have teamed up to create an electric-powered taxi designed specifically for tropical climates. The teams had Singapore in mind as the target city owing to its small size, efficient road system and the demand for private transportation, but being an emission-free vehicle will also allow it to pave the way for sustainable cities.
It’s dubbed EVA, and its creators describe it as an ‘electric car explicitly designed as a taxi for tropical megacities.’ It’s a fairly small vehicle, but it’s equipped with 4 specially made seats that draw moisture and heat away to allow for more efficient climate control and higher levels of comfort.
The front passenger seat can also be easily reconfigured into a child seat capable of accommodating children between the ages of 9 months to 3 years. There’s an integrated booking and payment system that passengers can access via EVA’s infotainment system. They can even adjust the audio and climate control settings via an app on their smartphone.
Being a small electric vehicle, one can’t expect much in the way of performance figures. Yet it’s actually pretty admirable, with its 0-100 km/h speed of just 10 seconds. It is still a pretty small motor, 50 kW in this case, which translates to about 67 horsepower. The 50 kWh battery pack allows for a 330 km range. If it’s hooked up to two chargers at one go, it only takes 15 minutes to get 200 km of range, which is pretty decent. Here’s a promotional video the team released of the EVA:
