UZE Mobility orders 500 StreetScooter vans to share – for free

The German vehicle sharing start-up UZE Mobility has placed an order of 500 units at DHL Deutsche Post’s electric van company StreetScooter. The vans, a mix of Work and Work L, will be put at the disposal of private citizens who need to move large stuff across town.

Interestingly, it is UZE’s ultimate goal to be able to offer their shared electric vans at no cost, although initially users will have to pay a fee. The business model is based on UZE gathering data from its customers – with their consent, in return for free use – and selling them to companies, who can adapt their commercial offer to the person using the van.

Moreover, UZE Mobility plans to sell advertising on screens mounted in the vehicles that will dynamically change the content being displayed depending on who is in the car and where it is in the city, Clean Technica reports. Among the major Investors in UZE Mobility is Lueg AG, a major retail and service partner of Daimler, which will be providing operational support.

Fast and adaptable

Martijn Storm, head of finance at Lueg AG, reckons that big players in the e-mobility industry need to be fast and adaptable. What would be faster than offering e-transporters free of charge for customers, due to being data-financed? Data is the key, he says (source: electrive.com).

The financing from Lueg AG will allow UZE Mobility to fully test their data-financed business model and fund their market entry. Last but not least, traffic data generated by customers will reportedly be used for traffic analysis and traffic infrastructure for communities and insurance companies.

Picture credit: UZE, 2018