Workbench Logo
Workbench Logo
Workbench Logo

Seat deploys electric carsharing fleet

A fleet of electric Seat eMiis are now on the road in Barcelona to provide employees at the SEAT Metropolis:Lab Barcelona and the Pier 01 Barcelona Tech City with zero-emission transport.

Vehicles are put on charge by users once returned back to site.

The vehicles can be reserved by a mobile app, which also serves as a digital key to open them – a system described as “very simple and intuitive” by Sergi Vila, who is responsible for Operations and Finance at the SEAT Metropolis: Lab Barcelona and a regular user of the fleet of eMiis.

Once vehicles are returned, users put them on charge, which takes eight hours at conventional recharging points and 35 minutes at fast points, bringing a total range of 160km (99 miles).

Data generated by the vehicles is also being used help inform technology R&D at SEAT’s digital lab.

By 2025, more than 36 million drivers will be subscribed to carsharing services, according to estimates, and recent research has found that electric vehicles and carsharing services can have a symbiotic relationship.

According to the car2go white paper, carsharing can help drive EV take-up while the use of fully electric vehicles on carsharing fleets strengthens the positive effects of carsharing, including environmental benefits.

For more of the latest industry news, click here.

Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for nearly 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day. Natalie edits all the Fleet World websites and newsletters, and loves to hear about any latest industry news - or gossip.