Insights and news from the ATOM Mobility team

When Alessio Treglia first encountered shared scooters on a trip to Lisbon in 2019, he instantly saw potential. At the time, Italy had no similar micromobility services, and the simplicity of the scooter-sharing experience – especially how easy it was through the app – left a strong impression.
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That moment led to the creation of Elerent, a company that now operates in more than 60 cities across Italy, Malta, Greece, and Spain. Built entirely on a franchise model, Elerent empowers local entrepreneurs to run their own fleets under a unified brand and tech platform. Today, Elerent is expanding across new cities, vehicle types, and even business models – including a ride-hailing app called WOPPH, designed specifically for the Italian market.

Launch date: June 2020. Migrated to ATOM Mobility in May 2025
Country: Italy, Malta, Greece, and Spain
App downloads: Over 100,000 (Android)
App rating: 4,7 / 5 from 965+ reviews (Google Play) and 4.6 / 5 from 1600+ reviews (App Store)
Fleet: Over 4,000 vehicles across 60+ cities
Web page: https://elerent.com
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/it/app/elerent/id1518090808
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.elerent.elerent

Starting with inspiration – and a delayed launch

Alessio was already managing several businesses in Italy when he came across Tier scooters in Lisbon. Curious about the model and impressed by how easily it worked, he returned to Rome with the idea of starting something similar. He began researching the sector, gathered insights from local entrepreneurs, and launched a pilot project. Everything was ready by early 2020, but the pandemic delayed the official launch. Instead of stopping, Alessio used that time to study the market more deeply and refine the model. In June 2020, the first Elerent city went live.

Focusing on cities the big players skipped

From the start, Elerent’s strategy was clear: avoid direct competition with large operators like Dott or Bird in crowded urban centres. Instead, the team focused on small and mid-sized cities, especially those with strong tourism traffic. The franchise model made this possible. Local partners handled daily operations and worked directly with municipalities, while Elerent provided the brand, tech platform, and support. This approach allowed the company to scale efficiently, without needing large operational teams in each location.

One supplier per vehicle type

Elerent began with scooters, later adding bikes, mopeds, and in some cities, cars. Scooters are still the most popular option across their network, especially in resort towns. Bike sharing is growing fast and has become a key focus for expansion. Mopeds, on the other hand, have proven more complex to manage and scale. To keep things efficient, the team prefers working with a single hardware supplier per category. For scooters, that’s mostly Segway. Standardizing hardware has made training, maintenance, and spare part sourcing easier across all cities.

Running the business day-to-day

Each city is run by a local entrepreneur who manages deployment, maintenance, and local relationships. These franchisees are incentivised to ensure smooth operations – they earn directly from ride revenue. Elerent monitors each location using a few simple metrics: average rides per vehicle per day, and how many vehicles are active. This helps the team identify issues like maintenance delays or low demand, and offer support where needed. “They know their cities better than we ever could,” Alessio explains. “That’s why the model works.”

Switching platforms and finding the right tech

Before partnering with ATOM Mobility, Elerent had worked with several other fleet management platforms. Alessio is direct about what he learned through that experience: frequent migrations are expensive, risky, and damaging to customer trust. “Every migration costs you money, time, and reputation,” he says. “That’s why it’s so important to choose the right software partner early and stick with them.”

After testing different solutions, Alessio chose ATOM Mobility based on the platform’s reliability, flexibility, and partner-first approach. “We found a solid product that does what we need it to do,” he says. “It’s stable, it’s scalable, and it supports our franchise structure and multi-vehicle operations across many cities. That’s not easy to find.”

He also values the working relationship. “The ATOM team actually listens. We’ve been able to suggest changes and improvements, and they respond fast,” he adds. “They understand how operators think. It’s not just a software provider – it’s a real partner.”

Smarter decisions with AI

To improve fleet performance and decision-making, Elerent has integrated Switch’s Urban Copilot – an AI-driven tool that supports operators with actionable data insights. “Everyone talks about AI, but this is one of the only tools that actually delivers results,” says Alessio. “We don’t have our own analytics team, but with Switch, we get the insights we need to make better decisions.”

Supporting local launches

Whenever a new city goes live, Elerent supports the franchisee with launch marketing, hands-on training, and operational onboarding. This includes local promotions with hotels and restaurants, technical setup, and on-the-ground support during the first week of service. The goal is to make each new launch consistent, reliable, and locally relevant.

WOPPH: An alternative to ride-hailing in Italy

WOPPH (pronounced “wopp”) is Elerent’s newest product – a ride-hailing app designed specifically for the Italian market, where traditional platforms like Uber are limited to taxi dispatching. WOPPH allows private individuals to offer rides to others, using a peer-to-peer model that fits within the local legal framework. Users can book rides, view pricing, and track arrivals – all through the app (powered by ATOM Mobility). The service has already launched in Rome and is set to expand to ten more cities in the coming months.

WOPPH is also experimenting with other modes of transport, including golf carts, delivery vehicles, and even private planes for day trips. The app will also allow users to turn their personal vehicles into shared cars using IoT devices – letting drivers choose between offering rides or enabling self-service access. “It’s an ambitious product,” Alessio says. “But the market response has been very positive.”

Looking ahead: growth through opportunity

Alessio believes the timing is right for continued expansion. With hardware costs falling and large operators focusing more on profitability than growth, there’s room for companies like Elerent to expand into new markets, especially with second-hand vehicles. “We can buy nearly-new units from major suppliers at half the price,” he says. “That opens a lot of doors.”

The focus now is on growing Elerent’s reach, continuing to support franchisees, and scaling WOPPH into a national mobility platform. With multiple projects moving forward in parallel, Elerent is positioning itself as a flexible, tech-enabled operator in markets that global players often overlook.

Bid your price: ATOM Mobility launches rider-controlled pricing feature

💸 ATOM Mobility launches “Offer your price” - a rider-controlled pricing feature. Riders can suggest higher or lower fares within pre-set limits. Boosts demand & helps stand out in competitive ride-hail markets 🚖🌍

August 4, 2025

The ride-hailing market is always changing. From Latin America to Eastern Europe, platforms like inDrive have popularized a new norm: letting riders suggest what they want to pay. Now, in response to this growing global trend, ATOM Mobility is proud to introduce: Offer your price – a fully configurable pricing feature built right into your rider app.

💡How It works

Available on all ride-hail projects, this feature lets riders propose a price – higher or lower than the default fare – within operator-set limits. Drivers can then accept or decline based on the offer.

Here’s how it reshapes the experience:

In the Rider app:

A new "Offer your price" button appears when selecting a vehicle class.
Riders can slide or tap “+/-” buttons to adjust price:
- e.g. +30% to get a faster ride 🟢
- or -10% to save on a flexible trip 🔵
For scheduled rides, this feature is disabled to keep things predictable.

Smart logic behind the slider:

Your admin dashboard defines the limits – say, up to +500% from regular price and down to -30% – and the app calculates step sizes automatically:

+500% limit → 1 step = 5%
+100% limit → 1 step = 1%
+200% limit → 1 step = 2%

Slider position adapts dynamically, depending on your defined range. And yes – the button color and style can be customized to match your brand 🎨.

On the operator dashboard:

You’ll find complete control and clarity:

Enable/disable the feature per vehicle class
Set custom % limits for price increase/decrease
Price card, exports and ride activity logs are all updated with the adjusted ride price
New ride status - Ride requested (adjusted ride price) for transparency in reporting

What drivers see:

In the driver app:

Price offers are marked clearly (e.g. 🔻 "Discount requested" or 🔺 "Extra fee offered");
Final earnings are adjusted accordingly and logged in driver stats.

Who's already doing this – and winning?

Real-world companies are already proving that rider-defined pricing works:

🚘 inDrive (LATAM, Africa, Asia)
Now one of the top global ride-hailing players outside the U.S. (over 200M downloads, active in 700+ cities across 45+ countries), inDrive built its brand around rider-negotiated pricing. It helps them stand out in price-sensitive markets and win over both drivers and passengers with more transparent pricing dynamics.

🚖 Comin (France)
A local success story, Comin has embraced flexible rider pricing to gain traction in several French cities (onboarded 6,000+ drivers). The feature gives them an edge against larger platforms, offering more freedom for users and better utilization for drivers.

These examples show that letting riders bid their price isn’t just a gimmick – it’s a growth strategy.

From our previosu blog “How to Find Your Niche in the Ride-Hail Market”, we saw how localisation and user control drive loyalty and conversion.

This new pricing flexibility supports:

Emerging markets with income-sensitive riders
Driver shortages, where riders can tip in real-time
Brand positioning, letting you stand apart from competition

🚀 Ready to lead the market?

This is just one of the 300+ features available in ATOM’s white-label ride-hailing platform.

Let’s talk about how to launch or upgrade your app with “Offer your price”, advanced pricing logic, and more tools to dominate your niche.

👉 Contact our team and explore how to become the market leader: www.atommobility.com

Is car sharing profitable in 2025?

🚗💡 Is car sharing still a profitable business in 2025? Short answer – yes, if done right. From rising fleet costs to smarter user behavior and green transport trends, the shared mobility game is changing fast. Learn what makes a car sharing business work today – and why some succeed while others shut down. 👉 Real stories, data-backed tips, and practical advice for operators and mobility founders.

July 23, 2025

In 2024, the global car-sharing market was valued at approximately €8.9 billion, with Europe accounting for over 50.2% of that total. Analysts forecast it will grow at a CAGR of 11.8% between 2025 and 2033, reaching roughly €24.4 billion by 2033. This blend of urbanization, environmental regulation and a growing preference for flexible mobility continues to create fertile ground for operators - yet not every service finds a clear path to profitability.

Success hinges on your location, business model, fleet, operations and local market dynamics. There are strong success stories, but also many high-profile failures. Here’s a closer look at what really affects profitability in today’s car-sharing market - and what you can learn from real-world cases.

What makes a car-sharing business profitable?

Profitability in car sharing boils down to securing enough paid usage while keeping costs under control. Every unused hour or unnecessary expense erodes margins.

Key factors:

Fleet utilization – the most important metric. Cars need to be in use several hours each day to cover fixed costs.
Operational efficiency – cleaning, charging, relocation, maintenance and insurance add up quickly.
Fleet acquisition – leasing usually optimizes cash flow and scalability, but still carries fixed monthly expenses.
Pricing and competition – too low cuts margins; too high drives away users. Finding the right balance is essential.
Tech stack – a robust platform automates operations, improves customer experience and reduces support costs.

The operators who win are those who combine solid daily usage with lean operations.

❌ PANEK S.A. suspends its car-sharing service to focus on rental

29 March 2025 marked the end of Panek’s car-sharing experiment. Despite peaking at 2 700–3 000 vehicles, Panek never turned a profit in over seven years.

About Panek

Launch: Car sharing added in 2017 by Maciej Panek, entirely internally funded (no VC)
Fleet mix: City cars, hybrids, EVs, cargo vans and vintage models
2023 acquisition: Regional Rent (+ 45% fleet), making Panek Poland’s largest integrated rental/operator

2024 performance

Revenue split: Car sharing ≈ 20 % of total. Traditional rental 80 %
Utilization: 0.7–1.0 rides/car/day
Maintenance & overhead: Up to €690/car-month
Profitability: Negative since inception

Why it failed

Under-utilization: < 1 ride/day vs. ~ 2-4 rides/day needed to cover fixed costs
Price wars: Fierce competition in Warsaw eroded margins and drove up customer-acquisition costs
High OPEX: Parking, maintenance, insurance and vandalism pushed costs > €690 per car each month
Tech drag: Two-year outsourced app development cycle meant poor UX and slow feature delivery
No public support: Missed out on parking incentives or EV subsidies

Faced with persistent losses, Panek’s leadership refocused on profitable core segments: daily/weekly rentals, corporate leasing and Fleet-as-a-Service.

🚗 WiBLE Spain finds its profitable lane in Madrid

WiBLE (50/50 joint venture between Kia Europe and Repsol) launched in 2018 and has just closed its second consecutive year with positive EBITDA.

Fleet: 600+ plug-in hybrids (Kia Niro, XCeed, Ceed Tourer)
2024 revenue: €6.93 million (+ 5% vs. 2023)
Usage: ~1 500 trips/day ⇒ 2.5 rides/car/day
‍Diversification: Monthly rentals (€599+) now 5% of revenue‍
Market share: ~19% of Madrid’s car-sharing market

Key enablers:

Higher utilization – rides up 15% YoY, driving a 10% lift in core revenue
Fleet scale efficiencies – added 150 vehicles in 2 years, lowering per-unit costs
Service diversification – multi-day and monthly rental options opened new revenue streams

After five years of absorbing fixed-cost drag and depreciation, WiBLE now leverages Madrid’s regulatory environment (low-emission zones, parking benefits) and delivers lean, tech-driven operations.

🚗 SOCAR South Korea: scale + longer rentals

SOCAR (backed by SoftBank, SK Inc. and Lotte Group) operates 20 000 vehicles, generates nearly €300 million in annual turnover and has 20% of South Koreans signed up.

Model: Station-based, pay-per-minute with average rental duration of a whoping 12 hrs
Segmentation trick: Aging cars shift from on-demand sharing to long-term monthly rentals (10% of revenue), extending resale life with minimal depreciation impact

By pairing massive scale with savvy car lifecycle management, extra-long rental duration, SOCAR converts high utilization into robust profitability.

🚗 Carguru (Latvia)

30 August 2024: Carguru (est. 2017) acquired EV-focused OX Drive (est. 2021), adding 200+ Tesla to the fleet.

Growth: From just 30 cars and total budget below 500 000 EUR (2017) to over 1 000 cars (mid-2025) via leasing and strategic partnerships
2023 turnover: €4 million; 435 000 trips (+35.9 %); 7 million km driven; profit €375 600

Outcome: A combined ICE, hybrid and EV fleet—backed by local expertise and strategic acquisitions - has driven strong growth and high utilization.

🎯 Core suggestions for aspiring operators

Target 2–4 rides/day per vehicle
- Leverage dynamic/off-peak pricing, B2B partnerships (hotels, offices) and event tie-ins.
Contain OPEX via automation
- Use predictive maintenance, remote diagnostics and gig-economy cleaning/relocation.
Secure municipal support early
- Negotiate parking incentives, EV charging access and low-emission zone permits.
Choose your tech wisely
- Build an in-house development team for full control with higher costs, or adopt a proven white-label platform for speed to market, stability and lower costs.
Validate unit economics before scaling
- Prove break-even utilization in one zone before expanding to others.

With clear benchmarks and smart execution - drawing on lessons from Panek, WiBLE, SOCAR and Carguru - car sharing can still be a highly profitable component of a modern mobility portfolio.

If you’re planning to start or improve your service, ATOM Mobility is ready to help. We’ve built the platform and supported dozens of teams worldwide - reach out, and we’ll share what we’ve learned.

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Image credit: https://kursors.lv/2018/03/13/carguru-palielina-autoparku-un-paplasina-darbibas-zonas-mikrorajonos

Introducing ATOM Mobility OpenAPI: Empowering mobility operators with seamless integrations

✅ ATOM Mobility has launched OpenAPI v1 - giving vehicle-sharing, rental, and ride-hailing operators full control to integrate their services into MaaS platforms, websites, and partner apps. Discover how this powerful tool can help you expand reach, automate operations, and drive more bookings.

July 9, 2025

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the ATOM Mobility OpenAPI v1 - a major step toward enabling mobility operators to seamlessly integrate their services with third-party platforms, partner systems, and custom applications.

With the OpenAPI, ATOM Mobility opens up new possibilities for businesses running vehicle-sharing, rental, and ride-hailing services to extend their digital reach, enhance customer experience, and unlock new revenue streams.

What is an OpenAPI and why does it matter?

An OpenAPI (or application programming interface) is a set of standardized protocols that allows external software systems to interact with your platform. In simple terms, it acts like a bridge between your mobility service and the outside world — enabling secure data sharing and functional integration.

For mobility businesses, OpenAPIs have become a key tool for:

Displaying fleet availability in Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platforms
Enabling ride or rental bookings directly from external platforms (websites, apps, kiosks)
Automating back-office workflows and data pipelines
Enhancing customer service tools with real-time ride information

What makes ATOM Mobility’s OpenAPI different?

While many mobility providers offer GBFS (General Bikeshare Feed Specification) to share read-only data (ATOM Mobility will continue supporting GBFS) - such as vehicle locations and availability - these feeds are typically limited to visibility. Users still need to switch to a provider's app to complete the ride.

ATOM Mobility’s OpenAPI is different. It offers full read-write access to the core functions of your platform - similar to what operators can already do in the back-office dashboard. This means that third-party apps can not only display your vehicles but also handle booking, payments, and ride management entirely within their own interface.

This is a game-changer for expanding your service footprint beyond your app.

What’s included in OpenAPI v1?

The first version of the OpenAPI supports all core modules — Vehicle sharing, Digital rental, and Ride-Hailing — with both public and private endpoints for:

User registration and authentication
Vehicle discovery and availability
Zone rules, pricing, and ride logic
Starting and ending rides or bookings
Accessing ride history and user activity
Enhanced actions: skip wallet checks, trigger some commands, bypass OTP, and more

Typical use cases

Here are some examples of how mobility operators are already planning to use the ATOM OpenAPI:

1. Deep MaaS platform integrations

Connect your fleet to fast-growing MaaS platforms, for example:

umob - a Dutch mobility booking app that recently raised €3.5M to expand its "all-in-one" MaaS experience across Europe. With OpenAPI, your vehicles could be fully bookable and payable directly from their interface.
Moovit – a mobility super-app used by over 1.7 billion riders in 3,500+ cities. Traditionally, Moovit displays vehicles using GBFS and redirects users to provider apps - with OpenAPI, the entire booking could happen inside Moovit.
Jelbi (Berlin) - Germany’s flagship MaaS platform, integrating 12+ operators, including car-sharing, scooters, and public transport. A direct API integration offers visibility and usage on one of Europe’s most advanced multimodal networks.

2. Bookings via your website

Allow users to book rentals or ride directly from your website without needing to download an app upfront. This is especially useful for tourists, first-time users or hotels. The app would only be needed to unlock the vehicle or track the driver (in case of ride-hailing).

3. B2B partner integrations

Want to offer mobility through hotels, offices, or real estate platforms? Now they can show your vehicles and complete bookings within their apps - driving high-value B2B usage without manual overhead.

4. Customer support automation

Support agents can pull up a rider’s active trip data in external helpdesk tools using ride ID endpoints - improving efficiency and resolution speed.

5. Custom dashboards and analytics

Build your own reporting layer by pulling real-time and historical ride, user, and revenue data into tools like Power BI, Tableau, or custom CRMs.

How to enable the OpenAPI?

The OpenAPI is available to all ATOM clients on the Premium Plan, which includes:

Access to full OpenAPI documentation and developer tools
100,000 API requests per month included in your support fee
Technical assistance from the ATOM team for setup and testing

Ready to expand your mobility ecosystem?

Whether you’re exploring new channels, seeking B2B integrations, or joining a MaaS platform, the ATOM OpenAPI gives you the tools to scale faster and smarter. Want to learn more or schedule a call with our integrations team?
Contact us: https://www.atommobility.com/ask

Micro-mobility market consolidation heats up: ATOM Mobility acquires ScootAPI

In a significant move signaling further consolidation within the micro-mobility software sector, industry leader ATOM Mobility announced its strategic acquisition of ScootAPI. The deal, finalized on June 1, 2025, strengthens ATOM Mobility's dominant position in the B2B SaaS Micro-Mobility market.

June 16, 2025