Coup boosts big city fleets by 500 electric scooters each

For the incoming start of the 2019 electric scooter season, the German sharing provider Coup is opening the service to more users. Also, a total of 1,500 additional electric scooters will be on the roads in Berlin, Paris and Madrid – a 40 % boost from before.

All three markets will each receive 500 new electric scooters by Coup to meet the increased demand. The Bosch subsidiary is also introducing a new minute-based pricing model. In Berlin, for example, this model provides for 0.21 euros per minute and a minimum rental period of ten minutes from 1 April. In addition, the minimum age for using Coup’s e-scooters will be reduced from 21 to 18 years at all locations as of 1 March 2019.

“Electric mobility and the need for alternative mobility services in cities are becoming increasingly relevant,” underlines Coup CEO Dr Bernd Schmaul. The planned start of the season in Berlin is 4 March, provided the weather conditions allow safe driving of electric scooters. In Paris and Madrid, the free-floating service is offered all year round.

Coup made its debut in Berlin in August 2016. Since the summer of 2017, the sharing service initiated by Bosch with its electric scooters has also been available in Paris and since mid-2018 in Madrid. In addition, a pilot project with 30 Coup electric scooters has been running for around nine months in the university city of Tübingen.

The expansion of the three large fleets will increase the total number of Coup electric scooters to 5,080 – distributed as follows among Berlin (1,500), Paris (2,200), Madrid (1,350), and Tübingen (30). The largest business area is Berlin with 92 square kilometres, followed by Paris (76 sqm), Madrid (72 sqm) and Tübingen (5 sqm). Paris will see the highest scooter density after the increase with 29 Coup scooters per square kilometre ahead of Madrid (19 scooters/km²) and Berlin (16 scooters/km²).

According to Coup, the new price model is designed to meet the needs of customers who tend to travel short distances on their electric scooters. According to the provider, this was a reaction to customer feedback. So far a journey in Berlin had cost three euro for the first 30 minutes, and 10-Minute increments cost another euro afterwards. The new pricing will effectively double the price per half an hour of renting a Coup electric scooter but indeed make (very) short rides cheaper. There is also a day or night subscription for 20 or 10 euros.

Also, Coup’s smaller and non-corporate rival Emmy, that was in Berlin first is increasing the number of electric scooters for the coming season. Founder Valerian Seither told reporters, Emmy’s fleet in Berlin will grow from 650 to 800 E-skulls by April. Emmy is also planning to expand to further cities but did not go into detail.

electrive.net (Coup), ngin-mobility.com (Emmy, both in German)

Additional reporting by Nora Manthey.