In connection with the Zukunftstaxi project for the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg, Volkswagen Automobile Hamburg recently showed off the electrically powered SUV VW ID.4 for the first time as an electric taxi independently of the factory. The first two ID.4 electric cars, converted into taxis by the Hamburg conversion company Reuss and subject to conformity assessment, are now in operation in Gifhorn.
Taxi entrepreneur Fabian Hoffmann bought two First Max models with a 150 kW motor and the largest battery of 77 kWh from taxi salesman Ali Ayuboglu. They have a standard range of about 500 km according to the current WLTP measurement method. With 80 percent charge, the businessman can travel about 450 kilometers in cold weather with the heating turned on.
At the company’s headquarters, the electric taxis are charged by AC to two walled boxes of 11 kilowatts, funded by the company. We are Volkswagen Charge Plus on-board recharge cards for medium on-the-go charging. The businessman is also planning to set up a fast charging station in connection with a larger PV system including electricity storage. The model can charge at direct current fast charging stations with power up to 125 kW.
The taxi gear for VW ID.4 includes a HALE inverted taximeter, it is linked to the all-in-one Digitax X One and software from MPC Software. In addition to Reuss, Cologne-based conversion company Jürgen Weberpals, and Ternica, as a subsidiary of Arnstorf / Niederbayern’s Haberl Electronic, can convert the VW ID.4 and other models of the MEB electric range from Volkswagen into taxis or rental cars and subject them to a conformance assessment. With them, this is also possible with Semitron taxis and odometer.