A consortium led by fleet management solutions provider GoMetro has launched South Africa’s first electric minibus taxi . Christened the eKamva ( kamva is the Xhosa word for future), the 15-seater battery-powered minibus is supported by a cluster of dedicated “taxi-rank adjacent” charging stations to support the taxi industry’s transition to electric mobility. According to GoMetro CEO Justin Coetzee, the company has been involved with the taxi industry since 2015 and has used telemetry data on thousands of vehicles using its taxi-mapping technology, which is used in more than 20 countries.
“We’ve run simulations on a lot of taxi data and found that about 95% of all taxi operations which are local (as opposed to long-distance) trips would be able to go electric today,” Coetzee said in an interview with TechCentral ahead of Wednesday’s launch event. “The range [of the eKamva] is 200km, but the driver does not drive 200km in the morning and park. He drives 100km in the morning, parks and drives another 100km in the afternoon, before he parks again.
So, those gaps between when he is busy are perfect for charging.” Coetzee said the DC charging hubs to support its electric taxis provide 60kW and are able to charge the eKamva to 80% capacity in an hour, with a full charge taking 75 minutes. eKamva delivers cost savings of between 40% and 70% on running costs compared traditional internal combustion engine vehicles of a similar build, he said.
The first charging h.