This is the taxi of the future, according to Volkswagen. VW, which will launch its first production electric vehicles in 2013 has shown this electric driven taxi at the Hanover Trade Show. Called the Milano Taxi concept, it is a city MPV tailored to the needs of taxi drivers and passengers with innovative details such as a swivel-sliding door that opens in a forward direction and customisable taxi touchscreens.
The green and black paint of the concept cab is a tribute to the fashion capital of Milan, where taxis were once painted like this. VW says that the Milano’s styling bears similarities to the iconic Volkswagen Samba Bus of the 1950s, and this plus its emissions-free drive and practicality could “make it a highly coveted vehicle in cities like New York and Tokyo”.
“One door less is all the more for a taxi,” said Walter de Silva, VW Group’s Head of Design. The safest way to enter and exit a taxi is on the sidewalk side, which explains why the LHD Milano’s single swivel-sliding door opens on the right side. The door also extends well into the roof, so the opening is very tall. The Milano’s dimensions is 1.60 m tall, 3.73 m long and 1.66 m wide. Like the Samba Bus, the outer roof areas are transparent; combined with a panoramic glass roof, passengers get a spacious feel and great views of the cityscape above.
Also, the need for passengers to always have to gaze at the taximeter in front to see the current charges is now a thing of the past (the meter in our Proton Iswara cabs are always conveniently shielded by the gear stick!). An 8-inch touchscreen in the Milano’s rear not only displays charges, but incorporates a credit card reader as well!
This cute cab has a top speed of 120 km/h and is driven by an electric motor with 85 kW (50 kW continuous power) powered by a lithium-ion battery located underfloor. VW says that the battery’s storage capacity of 45 Kilowatt-hours (kWh) and the Milano’s relatively low weight (1,500 kg) allows it to cover distances of up to 300 km. The battery can be recharged to 80% capacity in just over one hour.
More pictures after the jump!
Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.
Very cool indeed. Malaysia should have taxi specially made like this.
this one looks nice!
Cool… now if they just solve the problem of the charging time…
no prob, buy extra battery……plug out the old one, and plug in the new…. 600 km should be enough 4 1 day job…600km X 0.5 cent / km = rm 300 per day…. i should change to my career….
LOL.. better just buy 2 cars.
Watch TopGear review the Tesla.. hahaha, buy 2!
agreee
Cool..
i thought it is Giugiaro design..look like EMAS
ya lah. who follow who?
yea..me think so dude!
i think they need to come out with longer version to accomodate 4 people..
how to we place the bags?? i mean there is no front right door.. or else u have there is roll-over bags trolley attached to bags compartment.
Looks better than myvi. if they can do a normal 4 doors version is better!
Look 1000x better than Savvy + Saga put together^^
i guess its only a 2 passengers taxi…
Not bad, but kinda not practical….
Think about a family outing or friends of 4 via taxi…
They will have to board 2 of this instead of 1 normal taxis…
Unless if u are traveling solo….then mayb it does help….
er..take 2 cabs?
Or take a Minivan cab?
I can’t remember the last time I had to take a cab along with someone else……..and I do a lot of travelling…….
Most cabs only fetch 1-2 passengers…. why lug an overweight vehicle ALL the time.
Get another cab,dude. This ain’t no tut tut….
proton should think of jv project with vw….malaysian taxi version
yea!
what is that next to the driver seat? is that batteries or luggages?
i think that’s a luggage…I don’t see it have any space in the back for luggage space…
Seems it only able to load the max of 3 passengers, not good for tourist who come in 2 pairs of 4pax.
No space for our Bolehland taxi driver to put their CNG tank!!! ??
Maybe they will put it on the luagage box^^
CNG?? It’s full electric…
ANyway, if we did put CNG in there, explode in your face.
Good idea to ditch the front passenger seat in cabbies. Nobody sits there unless you’re riding with 3 passengers. Now can even see your luggage which is a good idea but do they charge extra for luggage?
Actually in China, single women passengers (and sometimes men) sit in front next to cabbie for safety reasons (in case they try to drive you somewhere else) because the rear seats are separated by a plastic shield.
In cities like NYC, HK, SG, most cabs have an average of 1-2 pax so it is quite suitable.
Nice! But now we’ve seen enough ‘Up!’ design studies from VW.
Now it’s time for them to come out with a real car which people actually can buy. Be it electric or with an petrol or diesel engine…
Perhaps proton will consider EMAS to have this variant
good idea
there is 2 big iphone there….
after 300km, need to recharge. I think most of our cabbies covered more than 300km daily.
and most of our cabbies need to wait for the looong queue at dedicated petronas every 100+ KM, a few times a day.
very cute!!