The Microcab, a revolutionary car with zero emissions is the product of innovative thinking by Coventry University School of Art and Design entrepreneur John Jostins.
Aimed at reducing noise pollution but most importantly, improving air quality, the Microcab could be part of the solution to the environmental cost associated with oil. Large enough to hold a driver and three passengers, it gets the equivalent of around 100miles per gallon, making it twice as efficient as an average petrol car.
The lightweight hydrogen powered car, still in development but well under way, is suitable for ferrying people or freight on short runs. The aim for the Microcab is for it to complete over 160km (100 miles) on each full tank of hydrogen. Already, as an electric-powered car, the Microcab is pollution-free and virtually silent in operation.
John's work with Formula 1 team, Williams combined with his work in special effects design and his experience of city life, are what gave him the overall passion and expertise to strive to make a car that can go further than any other whilst still being a lightweight, sustainable vehicle.
The idea for the petrol free taxi originally came from the experience of living and driving in London. When John was based in the city he found himself increasingly frustrated by the traffic issues but the main thing that hit John was the health implications of car emissions. This was subsequently to become John's main inspiration for the creation of the Microcab.
Breathing contaminated air - much of which comes from cars - causes more deaths each year than road accidents. With cities full of diesel fuelled buses and taxis, the most important thing to concentrate on with regard to air pollution is a new generation of public transport. Urban vehicles with zero-emissions are one realistic possibility for this.
People need public transport but there is nothing to say that it can't be pollutant free and lightweight. John's initial thoughts on how to create this were similar to that of London's pedicabs but he wanted to use more than people power so his first creation was a battery/pedal hybrid.
The initial concepts for the design of this hybrid were spurred on by John's involvement with the creation of futuristic full scale vehicle models for "Cold Lazarus" by Dennis Potter. It was helping to create the space-age vehicles for this film that inspired John to design the first pod like pedal driven version of the Microcab.
The development and early creation of the "urban taxi" began officially in 1996 when John started drawing up plans and designs for his first vehicle. John had already thought of fuel cell technology as a source of power for the taxis at this stage but it was not to be included in the designs until later on due to expense and the fact that the fuel cell was just too big for the small vehicles.
By the March of 1999, with support from Honda and Shimano and a £20,000 grant from Potential Development, the first full-size working prototype was underway. The vehicle was as already mentioned, a combination of pedal and electric-power with twin Honda motors to 'assist' the occupants in reaching speeds of around 20mph.
In 2001 the Microcab won a DTI (now DECC) Smart Award for Innovation (worth £45,000), subsequently allowing the team to embark upon developing the hydrogen fuel cell version of the taxi. By far the most sophisticated at that time, it had all new suspension and drive, heavily modified chassis and finally achieved what the whole concept had been working towards since inception - an urban taxi system with a speed of 30mph with zero emissions, which can run for a whole working day on a combination of hydrogen and solar power.
A further boost came in 2004, when the project won another DECC Research and Development Grant worth £145,000. This Grant gave the team the money to redesign the Microcab entirely using the new developments in fuel cell technology. The project would now allow the team to develop a hybrid of fuel cell and battery power to drive the new models.
It was after these later developments that the five fully functioning cars, now being used at Birmingham University, first came about. John believes that the design potential for the Microcab does not end with this last, successful model; he has continued working on developments and thinks the next models may be even more innovative.
John is now in the first 6 months of his latest 2 and a half year project for HFCCAT with another DECC grant, this time for over £650,000. This project involves the Microcab team running trials at the Birmingham University site in order to prove that the concept works and to further develop and redesign the vehicles where room for improvement is found. Coventry University will be using £50,000 of the funding to provide ergonomic and interior design expertise to take the overall look and feel of the Microcab to the next stages.
Microcab Industries Ltd was originally supported by Piper Design who provided high level engineering design expertise for chassis and drive train systems. Coventry University now provide state-of-the-art Design Institute facilities and design expertise in the newly-built Advance Digitalisation and Modelling Lab at the School of Art & Design.
Since its inception in 2002, the Bugatti building at Coventry University has been the base for the re-modelling and creation of the Microcab. With digital technology that can be used for helping the ergonomic modelling of vehicles, this is where the Microcab comes together. The design studios in the Bugatti building are big enough to house the modelling, design and creation of full-size vehicles.
The overall final design and styling of the latest Microcab was worked on by staff at the Bugatti building but some of the first concept designs were created by students on the Transport Design course at the University. The students produced different quarter scale models showing various design possibilities and then John took parts of these ideas and created the design that can now be seen at Birmingham University.
Microcab Industries teams up with creative and automotive companies RDM and Delta Motorsport to form the Microcab Consortium. These two companies have helped to make the projects possible for Microcab Industries and together, the three teams work together to create the finished Microcabs.
The Microcab has also had support from Coventry University Enterprises (CUE) - the University's commercial arm and the projects have also benefitted over the years from the help of funding from DECC, fundraising from the University and matched funding from local companies.
The University of Birmingham has recently installed the first hydrogen refuelling station in the UK so the Microcab is up and running: There are new, redesigned vehicles and a filling station to power them. Now that some of the Microcab vehicles are based at Birmingham University, John can test them out on private roads, whilst still being allowed to use them as vehicles for taking delegates and students around the campus. The series comprises two vans, two 4 seat cars and one pickup.
The two vans and the pickup are used for mail delivery and recycled materials collection and the others are used for taking people around the campus on open days and other such events. John hopes to get City Councils and similar organisations interested in using the vehicles as well as hopefully getting more fleets like this around other university campuses.
Further on in the design process for the Microcab is the development and implementation of vehicle telematics. The idea is that through wireless technology, you will be able to find cinema listings, local restaurant locations and much more. John's vision is of an environment in which you can discover information about your city surroundings whilst travelling from one place to the next. With vehicle telematics, the Microcab can become just like one of the futuristic urban taxis John created for "Cold Lazarus" all those years ago.
Dave Jurgensen, Midwest, USA around 1 year, 11 months ago