Working at a digital media agency usually means doing work for the screen, but once in a while, my agency will throw something completely random in the mix – like a project to develop car graphics for the first electric taxi in Japan.

The effort to make electric cars more appealing to the Japanese public is a huge step for BetterPlace, a company that doesn’t actually make electric cars, but instead, partners with other car companies to convert selected models to work with Better Place batteries and charging stations. Any Better Place electric car can make a quick pit stop at a charging station – the idea being that these stations will eventually will circle the globe – and have their battery swapped out for a fully charged one in just a few minutes.

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Process

The taxi I designed for is a compact SUV called the Nissan Dualis, which serves the Roppongi Hills district in Tokyo. The design is actually a variation of a design that I did for the Renault Laguna in Isreal, where Better Place built its first electric network. They liked it enough to request a variation of the same for their campaign in Japan. I am currently working on graphics for a Renault Fleunce Z.E. car, also for Isreal. (see the work I did for Isreal)

Three electric cabs began a 90-day trial in Tokyo on Monday that officials and the company involved say could eventually lead to the electrification of the city’s entire taxi fleet. Read more about the campaign »

The design uses these blue “gears” I created, showing that the car is being propelled by clean energy.

Mockup of back view

Mockup of top view

Other decals that are required on the car are standard Japanese taxi decals, a sponsor logo, and a logo for the Roppongi Hills district. Since I had to follow spacing regulations for Japanese taxi decals, I had to make the design to work as best as I could with all these logos! They sent over a bunch of the actual vinyl stickers.

Early sketches for the Tokyo taxi campaign

I went through several iterations of the car design.

Photos From the Launch Day

Check it out! Here’s the actual car driving around in Japan! Did the printing come out great or what? It looks way better printed than in my comps.

In Tokyo, taxis represent 2% of cars, but they’re responsible 20% of total emissions. By eliminating taxi emissions, we are eliminating a large chunk of tailpipe emissions. - Kiyotaka Fuiji, President, Better Place Japan

I guarantee you [that] they’re going to ask the driver, “does this thing really work?” And when they say, “Not only does it work, it works better, quieter, I actually like it better than my old taxi…then you have the ultimate demonstration.” - Shai Agassi, CEO Better Place

The car in a showroom

Look! They used the blue “gears” graphic I designed for the walls graphics in the charging station.

The car coming out of the charging station.

Press

They’re taking photos of a car with the decals I designed! Surreal.

The news made it onto the front page of the Better Place website and made a lot of press (see below).

Thanks to SolutionSet for the opportunity, and Thomas Schneider and Beto Espitia for creative direction!

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New York Times article »

(Photo: BetterPlace)