SEAT has put a fleet of electric eMii city car prototypes into circulation to kick off the carsharing service aimed at the more than 1,000 employees of the SEAT Metropolis:Lab Barcelona and the Pier 01 Barcelona Tech City, the benchmark hub for Europe’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. They share expertise and the same workspace, and now these electric vehicles as well. We ride along in one to discover the benefits of carsharing and how SEAT’s eMii fleet works:
- Sustainable mobility: “It’s practical and ideal for the city. I usually take one to attend meetings in Barcelona. When I return it, another colleague can reserve it and take it out”, says Sergi Vila, who is responsible for Operations and Finance at the SEAT Metropolis: Lab Barcelona and a regular user of the fleet of eMiis.
Cars can be reserved via the mobile app and then accessed with a digital key.
- An entire fleet of city cars at a single click: Users can reserve a car from the fleet via a mobile app. “You choose the day, the car and the time you need the vehicle…and you’re done!”, adds Vila. After making the reservation, the system sends a digital key that enables the user “to access the car with a single click, without the need for a physical key”, he explains as he unlocks the door. In the end, “the system is very simple and intuitive”, he assures.
- 160 kilometres to go the distance: When he returns the car to the carpark, Sergi plugs it in to the mains. “Recharging is a simple procedure” and the batteries, located where the petrol tank would normally be found, take 8 hours to charge at the slow recharging points, and only 35 minutes at the fast charge points. Once the process is complete, the eMii has a total range of 160 kilometres.
It's estimated that there will be over 36 million carsharing users by 2025.
- From having to sharing: Estimations point to over 36 million users of carsharing services by 2025. “People have gone from wanting to own goods to simply wanting to use them, like a service”, says Vila while driving around Barcelona. For this reason it is important “to commit to projects that promote the use of shared cars”.
With this pioneering project in Barcelona, SEAT takes another step forward towards the goal of analysing and finding solutions to the challenges facing future mobility. In addition, the data provided by the fleet of eMiis will be added to the research and development of technologies spearheaded by SEAT’s digital lab.
