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Volkswagen's (VW) new MOIA "mobility services" division on
Monday announced plans for a fully electric international
ride-pooling service that aims to remove 1 million cars from
European and U.S. cities by 2025.
MOIA will next year launch 200 of the six-seater buses in
Hamburg, Germany's second most-populous city, offering
passengers fast internet access and USB ports to charge phones
and tablet computers, MOIA Chief Executive Ole Harms said at a
technology conference.
Berlin-based MOIA will expand its Hamburg-based electric-bus
fleet to 1,000 units within three years and target other cities
from 2019, Harms said, declining to give further details.
"We will return the cities to the people," Harms said, adding
the ride-pooling plans will help to significantly reduce urban
congestion at prices which are cheaper than taxi rides.
Harms declined to comment on prices and the economics of the
plans, though he said the Hamburg project would initially be
running at a loss.
But the growth of ride-hailing services and the prospect of
driverless vehicles will encourage people to switch to paying
for individual journeys rather than buying their own cars, he
predicted.
"The market is unlimited," Harms said.
Struggling to draw a line under its 2015 diesel emissions
test-cheating scandal, VW created MOIA a year ago with a view to
it generating a substantial share of group revenues by 2025 as
it invests billions of euros in electrification, ride-hailing
and self-driving cars.
MOIA will draw on VW's modular platforms to build the new
electric bus which can run for about 300 kilometres (186 miles)
on a single battery charge and needs about 30 minutes to
recharge to 80 percent of full capacity, Harms said.
(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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