Californian electric vehicle sharing company sets up Barcelona base

The Californian electric vehicle company Scoot is setting up its first international location in Barcelona, from where it will increase its presence in Europe as a whole.

It will be the business’ first headquarters outside of the United States, creating 30 jobs at the start, with a total of 60 forecast by the end of this year.

Founded in 2012 in San Francisco, Scoot is an electric vehicle sharing service. Soon 500 of its trademark red electric scooters will be seen zipping in and out of traffic in the Catalan capital’s streets. But not only this, there will also be 1,000 electric bikes at the disposal of Scoot users.

The general director of Scoot in Spain, Enrico Sargiacomo, explained that Barcelona was chosen because of its “High interest in the ecology and sustainability of the urban modality model.”

Environmentally-friendly

“Scoot does not only allow one to get about the city in a comfortable and agile way, but its environmental impact is also 25% less than fossil-fuel vehicles,” he added.

The rental service will be managed through an app, where soon electric cars may also be rented out too, in order for the company “to position itself as a leader in multimodal electrical transport,” said Mar Pallas, vice-president of Scoot’s European Market Development department.

The investment has been made possible with support from the Catalan administration, via Catalonia Trade and Investment and its programme to attract foreign investment to the country.