MOIA, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, launched public operations in Hamburg Monday (April 15, 2019) after a three-month test phase. The service is set to become Europe’s largest, all-electric ride-sharing service over the next 12 months, the company said. The Mobility On Demand service complements the existing mobility providers and is part of the city’s strategy in the run-up to the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress, which Hamburg is hosting in 2021.
From Hamburg to the world
From mid April 2019, a fleet of 100 all-electric vehicles will be deployed initially on around 200 square kilometres including Hamburg Airport. The aim is to cover the entire city in the near future. The fleet of 500 e-buses and the area will be expanded to 300 square kilometres over the next 12 months. The new offer is a global beacon project for Hamburg. Ole Harms CEO of MOIA, said: “It is the first city with over 1 million inhabitants in which we are putting our innovative environment-friendly, shared mobility offer on the road. We are developing and perfecting our system here. We want to bring it to the world from Hamburg.” MOIA launched in Hanover last summer.
More employees to be hired
Robert Henrich, COO, added: “MOIA makes electric driving available to everyone. We complement the city’s existing transport and offer an attractive alternative to your own car. By bundling similar journeys, we increase the efficiency of traffic. Our goal is to reduce noise, congestion and air pollution.” During the test phase from January to March 2019, the black and yellow buses completed more than 20,000 kilometres. The tests focused mainly on newly developed software components, load management and operational processes. The company expects to employ around 1,000 people in Hamburg by late 2019.
Supplementing Hamburg’s transport mix
The company is co-operating with the city and Hamburger Hochbahn. By late 2019, the MOIAservice will have been integrated into the Hochbahn’s SWITCHH app, which bundles the services of various mobility providers in Hamburg. At present, the MOIA fleet is operated from a depot near Hamburg Airport. The depot is equipped with over 100 charging points for the vehicles’ batteries, which is done in shifts and at night. More depots, for instance in Hamburg-Horn, will go into operation over the next 12 months.
Source and photo credits: City of Hamburg
