Beat: subsidies for electric taxis

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Beat is taking initiatives to promote e- mobility , starting a program of subsidies and special offers that, together with the state subsidy of “Kinoumai Hlektrika“, will enable motorists to buy a new electric taxi at the price of… a used one.

In particular, according to the presentation made by the new general manager of Beat Greece, Aspa Topalidou, through the subsidy program and special collaborations that the company closed with four car manufacturers and import companies, the cost of purchasing a new electric taxi will start at 9,750€ euros for the cheapest models and will reach up to 20,000€ euros.

“In this way we want to strengthen the effort to renew the taxi fleet in Greece, in the context of the goals set by the EU, the Greek government and us as members of the Free Now group,” said Ms. Topalidou, emphasizing that the goal is Beat to eliminate its environmental footprint in the Greek cities that it operates by the end of 2025.

The support program concerns in the first phase up to 1,000 Beat partner drivers and concerns specific models of Mercedes, Citroen, Peugeot and Skoda, which were selected after a survey conducted on the company’s partners.

“We took into account what the drivers are looking for, autonomy over 250 km, trunk of 350 liters and of course support and service in Greece and after discussing with the companies we secured the preferential discounts”, said on his part the Public Affairs Manager of Beat , Nikos Lysigakis.

In order to cover the increased interest in the transition to electric vehicles, a special team of BEAT EV experts was created, to which drivers can turn for more information and data on how profitable it is to invest in zero-emission vehicles.

In fact, BEAT announced that for its first 100 partners who will invest in an electric vehicle, it will subsidize the cost of purchase and study of the installation of chargers.

It is noted that, in total, FREE NOW, a consortium of BMW Group and Daimler AG for urban transport, of which BEAT is a part, is investing 100 million euros in Europe over a period of five years, in the form of incentives for drivers to to make the transition to zero pollutants.

Great interest but with asterisks

The research that “fed” Beat showed the great interest but also the concerns of motorists for electric propulsion. In particular, 8 out of 10 drivers stated that they are interested in acquiring an electric vehicle, but at the same time they record significant disincentives, mainly the cost of acquiring a car, low autonomy and the lack of sufficient charging infrastructure.

Today, however, the electric vehicles available are not enough to meet the needs of all drivers. As the Beat executives explained, the models that are released during this period, due to the charging time that they require daily, are essentially only for owners who work in a shift. About half of the almost 8,000 drivers that Beat works with fall into this category.

The problems of summer

Special mention was made of the problems recorded in the summer, as many users of the services could not find a taxi from the application. Ms. Topalidou and Mr. Lysigakis attributed these problems to the large increase in taxi use due to the pandemic, but also to the increase in tourism from July to September.

According to Beat’s management, since mid-June, the demand for taxis on the Beat platform had increased by more than 30% compared to the same period of 2019. In fact, from June until today, the company has recorded 34 routes in Athens. and Thessaloniki. At the same time, Beat’s routes compared to the same period of 2019 have increased by 43%, while registered users by 19%.

According to the company executives, the situation has normalized, while Beat proceeded with measures such as the monetary reward of the drivers who used the platform, especially during peak hours. “We are doing what we can, but the problem goes beyond the platforms,” ​​said Mr. Lysigakis, stressing the need to modernize the institutional framework for digital platforms.

by Kostas Ketsietzis published at capital.gr