High Motor - ETIOCA Miner: the taxi of the future arrives in Barcelona
Electric, with interchangeable batteries, capacity for 9 passengers and with its own cryptocurrency: this is the taxi of the future that ETIOCA has presented in Barcelona.
It is called ETIOCA Taxi Miner, and it is the first project of ETIOCA Holding, a company that seeks to offer a new ecosystem of electric vehicles accompanied by a range of services based on pillars such as digitization, sustainability and the circular economy. And to begin with, at ETIOCA they have thought that nothing better than going to the taxi sector. For this they have created the ETIOCA Taxi Miner, a prototype of an electric taxi that has just passed through Barcelona as part of the Road Show that the company is carrying out to show its proposal.
Those responsible for the project assure that they have spent more than five years analyzing the needs of this sector, to develop a proposal that fits with the new trends in urban mobility. So much so that at ETIOCA they propose a comprehensive service in which the businessman or taxi driver does not have to buy the vehicle, but instead “subscribes” to a use option that includes absolutely everything, from the daily electrical charge (which can be done by exchanging batteries) to insurance, maintenance... and even washing the car.
Modular platform with interchangeable batteries
The ETIOCA Taxi is designed on a modular platform that allows different configurations. In fact, its first presentation is as a taxi, but ETIOCA contemplates options such as a school bus, or vehicles for emergency services or assistance such as firefighters, ambulances or police, as well as for last-mile delivery fleets. The idea, on paper, is perfect: an electric propulsion car with a minivan or minivan body, with a driver’s cabin completely isolated from a passenger compartment that has easy access and can accommodate up to 9 passengers. There is no shortage of an elevating loading platform, the possibility of easily transporting a wheelchair, a large cargo space for luggage and even a retractable platform for transporting bicycles.
The bodywork can integrate two automatically deployable 50×150 cm LED panels to display advertising, and its equipment includes a disinfection system using an ultraviolet lamp and a nebulizer, which could be used after each race. But the best thing is that the interchangeable battery system would allow it to have maximum autonomy again in just 3 minutes, which is what it would take to replace the discharged module with one already fully charged.
At the moment, no technical characteristics have been provided in terms of the type of motors used, battery capacity or autonomy. However, it is already possible to complete a prior reservation form (requires a payment of 100 euros) on the ETIOCA website, to enter the company’s user network, which gives access to an integrated system that even allows you to use a cryptocurrency created by ETIOCA. The amount of the reservation will be used to “mine” the new digital currency, and will be returned to those who make the reservation with the delivery of the vehicle. The company’s plans are to have the first 10,000 taxis in circulation by 2024, with an expected annual production of 45,000 units by 2025, and 100,000 units in 2027. The initial investment to carry out the project is 400 million dollars, and the plan is to reach 1,200 million in the next 3 years. At the moment, ETIOCA claims to already have 90,000 reservation requests under negotiation in Italy, Spain, Israel and Latvia. The idea is to find a partner to use a production plant.
