How Mevo became a leading player in the NZ Carsharing Market

Find out how Mevo has grown its fleet of hybrid-electric Audi A3s and now offers its service to hundreds of businesses and thousands of members.

COMPANY

Mevo

LOCATION

Wellington, New Zealand

INDUSTRY

Carsharing

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Vulog recently sat down with Erik Zydervelt, co-founding Director and CEO, to discuss Mevo’s journey with launching in the New Zealand market.

WELLINGTON. April 16, 2019 In this edition of The Shared Journey, we discussed with Mevo’s CEO how the carsharing company shifted from a station-based model to free-floating and became the first free-floating carsharing service in New Zealand. Mevo’s desire was, and is, to deliver an absolute best-in-class shared mobility offering and Vulog has played a critical role at every step in realizing this goal.

Last year, Mevo went from a station-based carsharing model to free-floating. What inspired this change and what have you seen as a result?

Mevo always intended to move to free-floating carsharing and needed to launch while agreements were reached with our Local Government Authority (LGA). It was clear to the Mevo board from day one that for 99% of users station-based is as comparable to blockbuster, as free-floating is to Netflix or Spotify. It’s been just short of a year with the new system, and members are demonstrably preferring the new system with a huge number of new sign-ups, and more trips being taken than ever.

What attributes make Wellington a viable city for free-floating carsharing?

With Wellington being a smaller, highly dense & mixed-use city, Mevo can deliver, test, & prove out the network for a relatively low capital risk, before scaling into larger cities in the region.

In July, Z Energy, one of New Zealand’s largest fuel companies, raised its stake in Mevo, contributing to its $1M in funding. Why do you think oil & gas companies are becoming increasingly interested in the mobility space?

Many oil & gas companies globally are realizing they have two options, harvest profits for the next few years and then sell down assets, or innovate and stay relevant. Z Energy is looking for ways to add relevant value to its customer base as the world moves beyond fossil fuels. Their investment in Mevo provides meaningful learnings into mobility as a service (MaaS).

How will Mevo continue to evolve its service in the future?

Free-floating shared mobility is evolving and getting better every day. As Mevo’s network of vehicles and members grows, there are new efficiencies and new services that can be offered every quarter. Additionally, as our cities’ built infrastructure evolves and users’ comfort with relying on on-demand MaaS providers increases, Mevo’s ability to deliver products that gain rapid acceptance is ever increasing.

Mevo is on a clear path towards autonomous, subscription, micro-mobility, and integrated offerings, complementing public transport. A clear focus on user experience and being members’ first choice whenever they make a mobility purchase decision will drive Mevo to innovate on the service going forward.

Vulog, the world’s leading tech mobility provider, is proud to power Mevo, New Zealand’s first free-floating carsharing in New Zealand. Erik is the co-founding Director and CEO of Mevo, where his desire to build better cities and harness business to regenerate the environment led to the founding of Mevo. 

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