VW unveils six-seat electric ride-share concept

Berlin-based MOIA has revealed a new ride-sharing concept based on a pure-electric version of the Volkswagen T6 Transporter.

The link between the German car-maker's products is no coincidence, MOIA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.

Created with the ambitious aim to take "one million cars off the road", the MOIA is a new concept to convince more people to embrace ride-sharing.

Revealed at the recent TechCrunch 2017 -- the annual German conference that celebrates innovation -- the new concept is said to have taken more than 12 months to develop in collaboration with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

Unlike other futuristic concepts for a driverless 'robotaxi', the MOIA has a traditional driver on board and will market itself instead as the "world's first ride-sharing car".

Developed to be ready for a new trial in Hamburg towards the end of 2018, the pure-electric van is claimed to have a 300km pure-electric range and can be charged up to 80 per cent in just 30 minutes.

Featuring six individual seats and lots of space for luggage and to stretch out, the modified T6 comes with lots of USB ports and on-board WiFi.

To book the van, passengers will use an Uber-style app on their smartphone to hail and pay for a journey on MOIA. Complex algorithms, meanwhile, group passengers with similar destinations.

VW's mobility firm says it began testing last October with a fleet of 20 regular Volkswagen T6 Multivans to prepare for the Hamburg launch of the pure-electric service.