VW’s MOIA Introduces Electric Ride-Sharing Van

MOIA, a mobility startup from the Volkswagen Group, is introducing its electric ride pooling concept van a after its inception. MOIA is presenting the electric van and its ride pooling ecosystem with the mission “One Million Cars off the Road” at TechCrunch in Berlin (4-5 December). As MOIA’s first project, the entire ecosystem—including the newly designed electric van—will launch in Hamburg at the end of 2018.

The goal is to launch the service in Hamburg with 200 electric shuttle vehicles in 2018 and extend the fleet in 2019. Once the service has successfully launched in Hamburg, MOIA intends to expand to other cities as well. MOIA is currently testing the service in Hannover using a fleet of Volkswagen Multivan T6 vehicles.

In addition to the car, the system includes a customer app which passengers use to book and pay for a MOIA. The app shows which cars are available and how much the ride will cost before a customer books a trip. A pooling algorithm groups passengers with similar destinations together in order to increase the capacity for each car and to avoid detours. A driver app and comprehensive fleet management complete the system.

Various operator models will be possible and can be developed together with cities and partners.

The MOIA car is a fully electric car that provides space for up to six passengers to fit comfortably. The interior was designed to be spacious, with standalone seats, plenty of legroom, and enough space to move around and reach each seat with ease.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volkswagen Osnabrück planned, developed and built the MOIA car in only ten months. The car has a range of more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) according to WLTP-standard and can be charged up to 80% in about 30 minutes.