The switchable battery electric vehicle taxi pilot in Tokyo, Japan, has been extended by Better Place and will now be in operation through to the end of the year.
The company hopes that by extending the trial it will be able further evaluate and optimise the design and integration of the components of the system, which include the battery switch station, battery performance and charging as well as the electric vehicle taxis themselves.
Run by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, the existing trial began on April 26 and focuses on the feasibility of battery switch as a means for taxis to have an instant zero emission range extension.
Now the programme extension has been approved by the Ministry’s Agency for Resources and Energy with operations to be temporarily suspended until September 1 so the onboard vehicle data can be analysed.
According to Kiyotaka Fujii, the president of Better Place Japan, at this point there has been little information about how the electric vehicle battery will perform in real world taxi conditions. However, the trial has provided critical insights into battery performance in a switch model and switch station performance for the toughest customers.
Some of the initial data revealed by the trial showed that the taxis have driven an average of 40,311km; drivers have been through the switch station 2,122 times; and average switch time is 59.1 seconds.
It is still hoped that the switch station itself will be launched next year in Israel and Denmark.
