ELMO RENT started changing transport sector

ELMO Rent started the implementation of its strategy for changing transport sector, to create an innovative approach to daily transport needs. Early this week, in ETV show Ringvaade (Outlook – edit.), we began to inform the public about the myths and realities of electric cars showing test drives of the weakest electric cars.  Today the price of short-term electric car rent is cheaper than a taxi ride.

Offering a competitive short-term electric car rent we want to change the behavioral habits both of taxi users as well as people owing leased cars. “Within the last years Uber and Taxify have successfully made short-term trips convenient and cheap. The service price reasonable for a customer resulted however in taxi drivers’ strikes, which means that fair prices will not remain forever”, said Enn Laansoo Jr, ELMO Rent CEO. “Therefore, we consider that it’s time to enter the taxi service environment with our competitive short-term rental service”, added Laansoo Jr. Since today a 30-minute electric car rental service will be cheaper than taxi. An average taxi ride in Tallinn is 15 km and costs from 5 to 7 euros and in Tartu accordingly 10 km and 4 to 6 euros. A 10 to 15 km and 30-minute drive by an electric car will cost you only 3 euros.

ELMO Rent also wants to change the everyday habits of car owners. In the next stage motivating conditions will be created for today’s car owners, so that residents of Tallinn and Tartu would abandon of private cars and replace them by public transport or using electric cars based on the low-cost shared economy. According to Enn Laansoo Jr, one of the major ELMO Rent focus groups are customers using leased cars for short trips, mainly to get to work and back home. “Statistics show that residents of Tallinn and Tartu use their cars only for 5% of their time and the remaining 95% cars are parked. Monthly leasing payments, car insurance, fuel, repairs, wear and tear amount up to 300 – 700 euros, depending on the car. Our new pricing policy to be published in the nearest days, enables us to satisfy the 5% of driving needs of our customers 2 up to 3 times cheaper vs. using private leased car” – said Laansoo Jr.

In addition to the promotion of short-term rental service ELMO Rent strategy is also aimed at improving the public awareness about electric cars and demonstrating the public all advantages and disadvantages as they really are. As the first step we showed a test drive of ELMO Rent weakest electric car in winter time. On February 6th, ETV Ringvaade showed the test drive made by Jüri Muttika. Mitsubishi i-MiEV drove altogether 9.2 km in the streets of Tallinn but its battery was used as if for 14 km. This episode helped show the small battery capacity of this car, which best of all suits for shorter drives in a city, mainly in the chargers’ area.  According to Jüri Muttika, you can drive with i-MiEV full battery, for example, from the center to Tabasalu, to Pirita and back, however the battery power also depends a lot on the driving style as well as the car model.  He considers i-MiEV most suitable for short drives for lunch from your office in winter time.

Enn Laansoo Jr. added that Mitsubishi i-MiEV’s mileage with no doubt lags behind the Nissan Leaf – the other make available at ELMO Rent, however your short daily trips in the city can be successfully made by i-MiEV. “Our users in Tallinn and Tartu make in average 22 km, but even by i-MiEV you can easily make 40-50 km. In case of an electric car with a small battery capacity it is crucial to plan your trips. For new electric car users such a car suits well to move first between rental points to gain confidence until they get used to monitor the relation between the battery level and driving style”, added Laansoo Jr.