Former Tesla Motors Inc Employees Launch EV Taxi Startup

from  bidnessetc.com

Two ex-Tesla Motors employees have launched a green ride-sharing taxi service, called Drivr Green Personal Transportation, which uses Tesla Model S electric sedans rather than gasoline vehicles

• TSLA

By: MARTIN BLANC

Published: Jan 21, 2015 at 1:44 pm EST

Amid growing popularity of Uber and Lyft, a new ride-sharing service that only uses electric vehicles has emerged in Cincinnati, Ohio. The service is known as “Drivr Green Personal Transportation” and has been created by two former Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) workers.

According to an article in Green Car Reports, Drivr is positioning itself as a premium alternative to the likes of Uber and Lyft, whereby consumers will get to ride in luxurious fully-equipped Tesla Model S sedans instead of regular gasoline-powered taxis. Drivr charges customers $2.50 per mile with a minimum payment of $15 per journey. It can cater to a maximum of four persons at a given time and much like other competing services, users can search and hail cabs online and on-the-go using the mobile application.

In addition, Drivr facilitates seamless door-to-door service and the Tesla cars offer LTE Wi-Fi, smartphone-charging, a 17-inch navigation-screen for the passenger to observe the route-taken, and a 200-watt sound-system, the usage of which is free for all customers.

Currently, Drivr has only three Tesla Model S electric sedans as part of its fleet with around seven drivers, but plans to grow rapidly. The startup is in the process of leasing ten more Tesla vehicles in the next few months as well as increasing the number of its drivers to 30.

Drivr’s co-founder Brandon Beard notes that the company is targeting consumers inclined toward on-demand service. He added that the target market includes a substantial amount of consumers whilst mentioning that its drivers do around ten airport runs on a daily basis.

Drivr Green Personal Transportation was founded last year in February through the joint efforts of Brandon Beard, a digital product design specialist, and Nick Seitz, who has on previous occasions collaborated with several startups. At that time both individuals were working for Tesla Motors in a part-time capacity.

Mr. Beard previously noted that he was a huge fan of Tesla and along with Nick Seitz saw great potential in green transportation given the rising popularity of ride-sharing apps. Drivr subsequently began operations in August 2014.