Coup Mobility GmbH, a Berlin-based electric scooter sharing service provider that uses electric scooters made by Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), said it plans to discontinue its business in three European cities — Berlin, Paris and Madrid — and end its cooperation with the Taiwanese brand.
Coup announced that its service in Berlin is to end in the middle of next month, and its operations in Paris and Madrid in the near future, adding that the services are not economically sustainable long term.
“Given a sharing market that is extremely competitive and the service’s high costs, continuing to operate Coup will be economically unfeasible over the long term,” the company said.
Coup, a subsidiary of Bosch Group, launched its sharing service in Berlin in the summer of 2016 using 200 Gogoro electric scooters.
Earlier this year, Coup expanded its operations to Paris and Madrid, with its Gogoro fleet increasing to 5,000 scooters.
Patrons are able to book a scooter using an app, which allows them to unlock a scooter at one location and leave it elsewhere as long as they remain within a defined operating area, a business model which aimed to cater to young consumers.
“Coup has become a well-known brand in the European sharing market. Many loyal customers regularly use its electric scooters and value Coup’s high-quality service,” the company said. “However, offering this requires a high outlay ... which with battery swaps and customer service is cost-intensive.”
Coup was competing with Cityscoot in Paris, which operates similar services and has established a strategic partnership with Uber Technologies Inc.
Coup said it does not plan to sell its Gogoro scooters, but keep them until another business plan on how to use them is devised.
Meanwhile, Gogoro’s local GoShare service has been expanding smoothly since its debut in August, the company told the Taipei Times yesterday.
GoShare, which expanded its service from Taoyuan to Taipei last month, had more than 220,000 registered members as of the beginning of this month.
It has deployed 1,000 lightweight Gogoro Viva scooters in Taipei and plans to add 3,000 more by the end of this year, the company said.
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