The implementation of the electric taxi fleet in the city of Poznan, Poland

Transport is an essential element of socio-economic growth, however, its development, besides the obvious benefits, generates a number of external costs such as congestion, noise, emission of harmful substances into the environment, depletion of non-renewable resources and energy consumption. One of the factors affecting the reduction of the environmental burden from road transport is the replacement of the conventionally-fueled vehicles by other types of powertrains, including the electric drives. The introduction of electric vehicles may become the key element in the sustainable transport strategy development in urban areas, but due to the fact that electric vehicles are still unpopular, the demand for these vehicles should be boosted by the vehicle fleet owners, especially by the companies providing transport services. The introduction of electric taxis requires the construction of an appropriate charging infrastructure, i.e. the selection of the charging station type and the determination of the number and locations of the stations. The paper outlines the progress in the introduction of electric taxi fleets in several cities. The main section relates to the possibility of the implementation of electric taxicabs in the city of Poznan, an agglomeration of 600 thousand inhabitants, located in the western part of Poland. The choice of vehicle and the calculation of the operating costs of a taxicab, as well as the calculation of the charging infrastructure costs have been also presented.