Perhaps you may understand the service of car2go. It is a car sharing system, in which you can rented by the minute a smart electric with which to get around Madrid. The cars are parked and collected in the streets, where it does not pay to BE by your condition of electric. They are geographically limited to the interior of the M-30 madrid: you can get out, but are collected and returned inside. All the service is managed from an app on our smartphone. Do you has been more or less clear? So eCooltra is the same, but with electric mobility scooter. Even more convenient.
The rental of these 250 electric mobility scooter has a cost of 0,24 euros/minute.
Cooltra is a Catalan company that bases its business model on rent for hours or days, motorcycle type scooter. Are present in Barcelona, Madrid, Balearic islands and other points of the Spanish levante. After the success of car2go in Madrid – they are already thinking of expanding up to 500 cars to its fleet of electric – have decided to establish a service very similar with electric mobility scooter. The service eCooltra is already running since three months ago in Barcelona, and thanks to its success, you should soon reach the streets of Madrid.
In the City there are already 250 scooter Govecs electric eCooltra circulating. The operation of the service is very simple. Using an app – and after you sign up for the service – localizas the bike nearest to you and make a reservation. This reserve has no cost and you have 15 minutes to get to the bike. You can enlarge it up to 30 minutes, but you will pay for each extra minute. Once next to the bike, unlocks it with the application, you put on the helmet that he wears on his luggage rack and you start by simply pressing the power button.
All scooters come with a USB cable with which to charge our smartphone, located in the bay front of the bike.
The service has a cost of 24 euro cents per minute, slightly more expensive than the 19 cents per minute, car2go, but it has an added advantage: you can park anywhere on the streets, within the law tends to be on a sidewalk or a street corner – it is legal in practically all areas of Barcelona. The bikes are collected and stored in an area 40 km2 bounded to the center of Barcelona. All in all, the access to neighbourhoods like Gràcia, the Gòtic or el Born is limited to the main arteries.
bikes have a range of about 60 kilometers and are used in the form of free float. What does this mean? The user despreocupa completely from the loading and unloading. When your battery is close to depleted, the bike disappears from the map of available vehicles and service employees are responsible for recharge in the premises of the company. To use this service must be of age and at least have a license in force for the driving of mopeds.
The bike includes helmet, but if you want to take a chaperone, you will need to have your own helmet.
The service is aimed at customers aged between 20 and 45 years, accustomed to the use of the technologies, and with little sense of ownership. Barcelona is the testing ground is ideal for this service. Is the european city with more bikes per capita, and one of the most difficult for the circulation and parking in car. eCooltra expected to monetize a service of high operating costs, and obtain substantial benefits to the economies of scale, although their core business remains the traditional rent of scooter gasoline.
The next time you’re in Barcelona, I would like to mention the use of this interesting service, which is available 24 hours a day. And what about you? Does any one has been already user? Tell us about your experience in the comments section.