Spiri is an EV-only ridesharing service where you're the driver
The company has designed its own car, and service will start next year in Europe.
Here comes another entrant into the ride-sharing ring: Denmark's Spiri. What separates this one is the company has developed its own fleet of electric vehicles for use, which were unveiled today. Those diminutive rides weigh in at a lithe 992 pounds according to TechCrunch. How'd the engineers manage a car that's roughly a third of what a new VW Beetle tips the scales at? Nixing everything that "add[s] zero value to a person's daily commute and travel," CEO Stefan Holm Nielsen said in a canned statement.
The fact that the body is made of carbon fiber doesn't hurt, either. Spiri's website boasts that the four-door car has more legroom than a Mercedes Benz S-Class and that the prototype's seats are "big enough to comfortably share a ride without sharing your personal space." Which is important considering that passengers are the drivers, unlike say, Uber and Lyft's model of independent contractors serving as drivers. If you're driving one, it's expected that you'll pick up a few riders on the way to your destination. Rides will supposedly run about the price of a bus ticket.
Spiri says that service should begin next year in either Denmark, Germany, Sweden or the United Kingdom.
