With the collaboration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei Tech is sanctioned to import 200 electric motorcars, the two-seater Tazzari Zero from Italy, and will offer rental services starting in June. The rental services not only provide an exciting opportunity for citizens to experience the green technology on wheels, but it also allows Taipei Tech to collect data in line with the government’s green policy.

Each electric motor car’s building cost is NT $1.3 million (US $44,000). Despite its high price, with only NT $350 (US $12) registration and rental fee, citizens can rent it for 7 hours. Many citizens have seen the Taipei Tech electric cars being tested near the campus, and the university has received many calls with people showing interest in renting the car. Since the development of electric motor cars in Taiwan is still in its preliminary stage and is still relatively unadvertised to the public, electric motor cars are only available for rental. According to Car Plus, one of the prevailing car rental companies in Taiwan, the rental records on the latest holiday show that the 38 motorcars that Car Plus offered were fully booked. This is a promising number which indicates that more and more Taiwanese are aware of and are looking for greener alternatives for transportation.

Taipei Tech Electric cars charging at the university's electric charging station.

From the general public’s view, citizens are very much willing to give electric motorcars a try. Yet, the commonly shared doubt is the specification and capacity of the battery for electricity storage. However Taipei Tech has foreseen the problems and provided solutions; Chien-Te Lee, the project owner of Taipei Tech electric motorcars, indicates that the Taipei Tech electric cars can be charged at specific charging stops for electric vehicles or simply at home with regular electricity specification. The charging process takes 1-3 hours depending on the remaining electricity stored in the battery. Taking an example of an average three-hour charging process on an empty battery, it only costs NT $30 NTD (US $1) and the electricity stored allows the car to run for about 200 km, which is a lot more capable compared to other existing brands of electric motorcars.

While Taipei Tech welcomes citizens to register for affordable rides, the Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC), with the full support of Taipei Tech, grandly established the Future Automotive Technology Cooperation Center. With the Cooperation Center located in Taipei Tech campus, both divisions will continue to facilitate innovation and technological cooperation in the automobile industry, develop independent technology, and furthermore cultivate the next generation of young Taiwanese specialists of vehicle engineering.

ARTC is the pioneer automotive research institute in Taiwan that boasts critical technology, and Taipei Tech’s Department of Vehicle Engineering is also renowned for its focus on automobile expertise. The joint collaboration between the two is promising in the long run as President Yao explains the aim of the Future Automotive Technology Cooperation Center. The Cooperation Center endeavors to participate and lead government authorized or industrial research and development projects. So far, the Cooperation Center has started its engagement in six projects including the research on enhancing the endurance of electric motorcars, ultrasound space domain scanning, auto-car-parking navigation system via camera positioning, and smart energy-saving system.

As the Cooperation Center gets more actively involved in each research and development project, precision instruments and technical personnel will be largely incorporated. The objective is aimed at transferring finalized technology to relative industries and commercializes it into products available for the market, and the Taipei Tech electric car is the perfect debut of this collaboration.