Enn Laansoo Jr, CEO of ELMO Rent, gave an interview to Äripäev about the use of electric cars. Following is the article. 

ELMO Rent is planning to extend the short-term rental service volume, as our customers started to trust the electric cars and use them for longer and longer trips.

“For example, yesterday (29.01 – edit.) a car was taken to drive from one city to the other”, said Laansoo Jr. The average length of an electric car trip is 27 kilometers, however in Tallinn it’s usually about 10 kilometers – a drive from one end of the city to the other one.

Having registered yourself as a user you can rent ELMO Rent electric cars straight from the street, as to start and finish your trip you only need your mobile phone. Currently 31 electric cars are available for the use on the principle of shared economy, 25 of them are in Tallinn and the rest – in Tartu.

Earlier ELMO Rent electric car rental points were located, for instance, in Ülemiste City, at Tammsaare business center and science park  Tehnopol in Mustamäe. Now a new rental point is added in Flora business district. According to Laansoo Jr the new location is special because the initiative of setting up a rental point came from the property developer, i.e. Lumi Capital.

Flexible logistics and charging

For ELMO Rent Ltd. A cooperation agreement means an obligation to keep two ready-to-go electric cars in Flora district for its tenants.  As a rental car is usually used only for one-way trips, we have three employees in the company to monitor the location of the vehicles and decide where to move them to comply with the demand. When a customer gets into an electric car, the latter is clean of snow, washed and gets warm quickly, as it is taken care of usually at night.

Elmo Rent uses electric cars Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-Miev. They are really not large and designed first of all for driving in the city.   They accommodate four people incl. driver. Although you cannot fit a bassinet in the trunk, but you do can put a stroller in. The car develops motor revolutions very quickly and smoothly. You don’t have to scare that in the middle of the road your battery will die. On your vehicle dash board, you’ll always see the indication of the number of kilometers to go. And ELMO Rent rental points and charging facilities are located everywhere around Tallinn and Tartu. Even driving from one city to the other you can charge your electric car at chargers on the way and in summer you don’t need any interim charging at all.

A weighty argument to use ELMO Rent electric cars are the lower monthly costs vs. the costs of a leased car.  A leased car is mainly parked but you must pay for this time in full. You also have the costs of motor and kasko insurance, fuel, car-wash, servicing and repairs as well as wear and tear.  A ready-to-go rental car is just waiting for a call to be used by the next user. And you must pay only for the time used for a specific trip. Even if you want to visit your parents in the country side once in a fortnight and make such longer trips by a rental electric car, it will be cheaper than by a leased car – calculated Laansoo Jr.

Article appeared in  Äripäev on February 1st.