You're reading: Electric car taxi service launched in Kyiv

Electric car retailer Oxygen Group has launched Oxy-Taxi, the first electric car taxi service in Ukraine.

The company provides clients with electric taxicabs, and says it will expand its fleet to 50 vehicles over the next three months.

The eventual goal is to have 500 cars, including ones manufactured by U.S. company Tesla Motors, and to make an initial public offering (IPO) in three years, says Oxygen Group and Oxy-Taxi CEO Alexandr Vovk.

“We’re going to build a proper business,” Vovk told the Kyiv Post.

Oleksandr Vovk shows a picture of Oxy-Taxi cars to the Kyiv Post on July 14 in Kyiv.

At the moment, all of the electric cars are Nissan Leafs. Each vehicle offers free Wi-Fi, the use of a tablet, payment terminals for paying fares, and even the use of an umbrella from the vehicle to the client’s door, if it’s raining.

To provide round-the-clock services, each Oxy-Taxi car has to recharge at least two or three times a day. To speed up the process, all of the cabs will use two high-power chargers installed by Oxygen Group in Kyiv. Three more chargers are ready to be installed in outlying parts of the city.

The high-power direct current charging stations can fully charge a car battery in minutes. The total amount of time a driver will spend on charging a car is one hour a day. To charge a Nissan Leaf from a regular 220-volt socket takes up to six hours.

However, in spite of the low prices for electricity and recharging, the electric taxi fares are higher than those of most Ukrainian taxi services, Vovk said.

“The money saved on fuel goes to pay tax — all our drivers are officially registered and we pay VAT,” he said. “If you use our service, your money goes through cashier’s desk.”

A man drives an Oxy-Taxi cab in Kyiv downtown on July 15.

A man drives an Oxy-Taxi electric car in Kyiv downtown on July 15.

There are no additional payments for ordering a cab.

The company also plans to develop an app that will allow clients to order a ride from drivers via their smartphone.

The company says it is trying to employ those who have never worked in a taxi company before.

“People who have worked for other taxi companies in Ukraine are not always ready to abide by the standards we want,” Vovk said.

An Oxygen Group auto show consists only of electric cars, Nissan Leafs.

A man looks at a Nissan Leaf in Oxygen Group auto show in Kyiv on July 15.

In order to increase the amount of cars in its fleet, the company is offering Nissan Leaf owners to rent their cars for 3 percent of their value per month.

“Why keep money under a pillow? It is better to invest in a car and get money back over the months,” Vovk said. He believes there will be at least 15,000 electric cars in Ukraine by 2019.

He said running the company entirely legally would certainly allow it to be successful, but it is not the type of business that will break after just six months.

“A taxi ride costs $1 in Kyiv — you don’t get prices like that anywhere else in the world,” Vovk said. “But there aren’t any proper taxi services in Ukraine at all. Ninety-five percent of Ukraine’s taxi market is in the shadows. So a legal taxi business with electric cars and green energy is going to interest a lot of people.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov can be
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[email protected]. The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is
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