Auto 10 - ETIOCA Miner: rent your electric taxi with everything included, instead of buying it

It will be transferred to taxi drivers who will pay for its use. The Gibraltarian company promises to increase drivers’ income by 20%.

The first will arrive in 2024. Barcelona has been the first Spanish town where the Gibraltar-based company ETIOCA has presented its first vehicle for taxi drivers known as the Miner. His idea is to revolutionize this sector by handing over the cars to private drivers so that they only have to pay for their use. Let’s analyze it in depth.

What is ETIOCA?
The first thing we have to know is the company behind the development of the Miner. ETIOCA is founded and developed by an Israeli entrepreneur and inventor named Mark Ishakov in 2015, although right now the CEO who runs the Gibraltar-based company is the Italian Roberto Fiorello. Do not forget these two countries and the British Overseas Territory because they are very important in the whole project.
To begin with, because they have the backing of the Government of Gibraltar, since the ETIOCA project has been included in the National Economic Development Plan for the next 5 years devised by the Minister for Economic Development, Sir Joe Bossano, and which has no less than a total investment of 500,000,000 pounds.
The Italian link is that the ETIOCA Mine has been designed and manufactured in Turin (these first sample units). Specifically, Giorgetto Giugiaro and Fabrizio Giugiaro, well-known in the automotive sector (the former was recognized as designer of the century), whose mission is to create an R&D center for the company, are part of the project.

How is the ETIOCA Miner?
As can be seen in the photographs, the ETIOCA Miner is closer to the concept of a large passenger minivan. With a square-shaped body, it has a size of no less than 4.95 meters long, 1.95 m wide and a height of 2.01 meters. Inside it is structured with seven modular seats and another extra for people with reduced mobility, who would access the interior from an automatic ramp. Although it could also transport other leisure items such as bicycles, skis or snowboards, the brand tells us.
For its displacement, the ETIOCA Miner has an electric motor with a power of 120 kW (163 CV), with which it can reach a limited maximum speed of 150 km/h. Regarding the batteries, several configuration options will be offered to install one or more, but it must be taken into account that each battery will have 100 kWh that would provide 350 km of autonomy and that they can be interchangeable so as not to have to stop to recharge them. Other characteristics of this ETIOCA Miner is that it has a driver’s position totally isolated from the rest of the cabin, to guarantee safety, which will have digital screens for managing services and a payment terminal. For customers, an on-board food and drink store, chargers for all types of devices and a real-time map of the route will be included.
They will not forget the advertising issue either, something that currently includes taxis. The idea in the ETIOCA Miner is to have several outdoor LED screens that can display dynamic ads as they move. The agency Between Comunicazione, bought by the Gibraltarians, will be in charge of managing the inventory worldwide.
In addition, taking into account the pandemic that we have suffered worldwide, the ETIOCA Miners are prepared to automatically disinfect each time they run out using a system that combines ultraviolet light and a disinfectant atomizer.
Finally, it should be noted that this ETIOCA Miner will be mounted on a modular platform called “Anna” with which the brand, together with Giugiaro, want to create other types of electric vehicles such as last-mile delivery vans, ambulances or other emergency vehicles. emergency or vehicles for state security forces.

ETIOCA Miner taxi
What will the service be like for taxi drivers who want the ETIOCA Miner?
Here is one of the keys with which ETIOCA wants to change the taxi business model. Now drivers must buy a vehicle to be able to practice this profession and with the Miner the idea is that it be transferred to pay only for the kilometers traveled and the associated services contracted.
Initially from the brand they have announced that the cost of this ETIOCA Miner will be 0.36 euros per kilometer. If a taxi driver does about 3,500 km per month, the price to pay would be 1,260 euros. This amount may increase if other types of services are included, such as changing batteries at authorized stations, daily washing of the vehicle, insurance, maintenance and replacement in case of breakdown.
Currently you can make reservations for the ETIOCA Miner (they say they already have 90,000) through their own website, where you have to fill out a form and pay a registration fee of 100 euros that will be returned later. In this way, customers who carry out these procedures will be registered within the ETIOCA application, which allows customers to reduce waiting times using geolocation.

More information related to the ETIOCA Miner
ETIOCA has obtained the worldwide manufacturers license (Worldwide Manufacturers Identifier or WMI) that allows unlimited vehicle manufacturing. His idea is to have the first 10,000 taxis in circulation by the end of 2024, with an annual production of 45,000 units in 2025 and 100,000 units in the same period by 2027.
Behind this ETIOCA project there is also space for charitable purposes. Through the Israeli NGO Keren Hayesod and others that will become known worldwide, they will try to support the development of children in underprivileged conditions. The idea is that for each vehicle put into circulation, an economic amount is assigned monthly to maintain and better educate a needy minor.
After the visit to Barcelona with the ETIOCA Road Show – 2023 World Tour, the plan is now to visit other towns in our country to meet with their taxi drivers, such as Valencia, Madrid, Marbella and Barcelona again.