Great honor for TUM CREATE's electric taxi concept

Electric taxi "EVA“ receives eCarTec-Award 2014

A newly developed fast charging system recharges the batteries of TUM CREATE's electric taxi in just 15 minutes to cover a realistic range of 200 km (based on Singapore driving patterns). With the new quick charge, the driver can refill the batteries of his taxi in typical operation pauses. Key to this is a highly effective cooling of the batteries during charging.

A particular challenge in tropical regions is the high energy demand of the automotive air conditioning. EVA provides a system that doesn't cool the entire space but produces an individually pleasant climate. It comprises an overhead air-conditioning and seat ventilation. Air conditioning and entertainment system can be operated with a commercial smartphone.

The concept convinced the jury because, based on its many solutions tailored to the taxi operation in tropical cities, it allows a pure electric mode at lower cost than comparable taxis with gasoline engines. In the mix of different modes of transport e-taxis could make a notable contribution to carbon dioxide avoidance, because while taxis make up less than three percent of all vehicles in Singapore, they put 15 percent of the driven distances.

The average two-shift taxi covers over 500 km a day. Therefore EVA is designed for professional use with high daily mileages. Despite the use of weight-saving materials, such as a passenger cell made from carbon fiber reinforced plastic, the car weighs about 1500 kg including batteries.

EVA was designed from the ground-up as an e-taxi and is a result of interdisciplinary research in the areas of energy storage, battery charging, thermal management, and lightweight materials and design. TUM CREATE is funded by the Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise (CREATE) program under the National Research Foundation (NRF), an agency of Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office.

EVA website

TUM CREATE website