Sao Paulo Places LEAF BEVs into Taxi Pilot Program
 

The project will see 10 LEAFs setup for taxi based transportation in the largest city in Brazil.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - June 8, 2012

2012 Nissan LEAF - $35,200 to start, a 99 MPGe combined rating per the EPA and a 73 mile all-electric range on a full charge. It is the 2012 Leaf SVs $289 a month that sounds the most enticing however ;)

Nissan detailed a new sustainability mobility project for Brazil earlier this week. The city of Sao Paulo along with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, AES Eletropaulo and Adetax (Association of Taxi Fleet of Sao Paulo) created a pilot program that will evaluate the viability of LEAFs operating as taxis within the city.

The study is the first project born from the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in June 2011 which sought the adoption of electric cars in the state capital. At the time, Sao Paulo was the first South American city to sign such an agreement.

The first two Nissan LEAFs will begin shuttling customers in just a few short weeks from now. Both Nissan LEAF EV Taxis will circulate in a pre-defined circuit inside the Sao Paulo beltway. The LEAFs will be located at the Paulista Avenue and Consolação Street corner, available to anyone who is interested in taking a zero emission shuttle. In the next step, scheduled for the middle of the second semester, eight additional LEAFs will be deployed into the Sao Paulo electric taxi fleet.

The pilot program will feature professional taxi drivers, people who understand demands of urban mobility in the city of Sao Paulo and, consequently, have a lot to contribute. The professionals were trained in all aspects of LEAF mobility by Nissan do Brasil in partnership with the City Transport Department and the Association of Taxi Fleet of Sao Paulo (Adetax).

In addition to studying the behavior of a battery electric vehicle through the streets of Sao Paulo, the pilot program will have a 15 charging station locations in the circuit (five of them Level 3 CHAdeMO DC chargers) installed by energy company AES Eletropaulo, in which taxi drivers will be able to recharge the Nissan LEAF's Li-Ion batteries in less than 30 minutes. The other ten Level 2 chargers can recharge the LEAFs within 8 hours from fully depleted.

The pilot program will be watched closely by partners, which will monitor and analyze the needs of taxi drivers, better places for quick charges, plus EV performance and maintenance, among other issues surrounding the initiative.

François Dossa, Administration & Finance VP of Nissan do Brasil:
This program is a severe duty service of the toughest kind and I am very much looking forward to the results. Can Taxi drivers keep the vehicle charged while on their daily loops? Can the drivetrain withstand the continuous pounding of full accelerator launches for thousands of cycles and can the chassis hold up to the mean streets of Sao Paulo itself? Interesting test indeed.

Re: Sao Paulo Places LEAF BEVs into Taxi Pilot Program
 

Brazil has very high duties on imported cars, IIRC 100%.