Kamer van Koophandel en Nijverheid Aruba | Chamber of Commerce and Industry Aruba

Aruba, July 13, 2012 - With some navigation support from the Enterprise Europe Network, Spanish entrepreneur Florencio Cuervo hopes to sell cities on the idea of a green ride-sharing scheme using three-wheel electric scooters.
The engineer-turned-entrepreneur believes he’s found a solution to today’s urban congestion: a motorised scooter he designed called eMoTria (from the ‘e’ in electric, ‘Mo’ for Motor and ‘Tria,’ three).

Powered by an electric battery, the vehicle can take two passengers plus 50kg of cargo, and can reach up to 45 km/hour. “I wanted to develop a means of mobility for all that was affordable and easy to use,” says Cuervo, who ultimately hopes to sell entire fleets for city-funded ride-sharing programmes through his company, VELMUS.
For help developing the business he turned to the Barcelona branch of the Enterprise Europe Network, based at ACC1ó. With more than 3,000 experts in 50 countries, the Network can open doors for entrepreneurs.

“We are like a free R&D department for SMEs,” says Network expert Mònica Botey, "we help them identify the right technology for their business." Using the Network’s unique business matchmaking database, Botey put Cuervo in touch with Global Tracking, a Vienna-based maker of GPS tracking systems and a Network client of Andrea Kindler at the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, the local branch of the Network in Vienna.

The firms agreed to cooperate and will equip eMoTria scooters with Global Tracking’s GPS technology, allowing cities to easily manage entire fleets. “Working with the Network leads you down exciting new roads,” says Global Tracking’s technical support manager, Cihan Yildiz.

Read more/ Source: http://portal.enterprise-europe-network.ec.europa.eu/success-stories/green-light-eco-scooters