The Dallas-based company behind the world’s first peer-to-peer electric vehicle (EV) sharing platform is getting ready to launch its new service this summer.
Zevo — short for “Zero Emission Vehicle Organization” — is a new EV car-sharing platform and two-sided marketplace in which hosts of electric-only vehicles and users of the service can sync up for an on-demand, contactless, and zero-emission car-sharing experience.
The 15-person company was founded in 2021 by CEO Hebron Sher in order to capture the cultural shift away from the internal combustion engine and toward EVs, which are more energy-efficient and environmentally sound.
“Zevo’s disruptive technology has the potential to shake up the traditional car transportation industry in addition to putting more money in people’s pockets,” Sher told The Dallas Express.
“That’s what this is all about – having a platform that offers true public transportation, where all the favorability is in the hands of the individual that owns the asset,” Sher said. “Right now, owners of EVs are sitting on a major asset that is simply not being utilized to its full extent.”
A waitlist for Zevo’s car-sharing service is currently live and available for users to sign up and join. The platform’s full functionality will launch in select marketplaces this July. After the official launch, Sher says he plans to expand the car-sharing service into other U.S. markets.
“Within 18 months, we plan to be in the Los Angeles metro, the San Francisco Bay area, Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York City, Austin, and Dallas,” he told The Dallas Express.
Although Texas doesn’t immediately jump to mind when thinking about EVs or technology companies, Sher says The Lone Star State is actually well-positioned to benefit from the sector’s future growth and is surprisingly in the top five EV marketplaces in the nation.
This is supported by 2022 EV registration data from the Department of Energy, which shows that out of 50 U.S. states, Texas ranked third with a registration count of 80,900. California ranked first with a registration count of 563,070, followed by the coastal state of Florida at second with a registration count of 95,640.
Although it may seem like the majority of people are shifting to EVs to cut tailpipe emissions, Sher suggests that they’re actually doing it for the futuristic features of the car and because they hate gas stations.
“Truthfully, people would rather be able to charge their vehicle at their house and have it ready to go in the mornings – without ever needing to mess with a gas station,” Sher said.
The Zevo app features an intuitive UX and UI design geared toward connecting guests directly to the platform’s robust catalog of host-owned EVs. Once users have booked or reserved their desired EV, they meet at the pickup location, unlock the car, and are free to hit the road.
The company’s seamless user process and zero emissions business model will be a major game changer for the industry as a whole, according to Sher, who points out that driving about 15,000 clean miles per year in an EV is equivalent to removing one metric ton of CO2 from the atmosphere.
“If you add up the tailpipe emissions from all the gas-powered vehicles that use our roads each day, it’s quite a lot,” he said. “So, you’re not only sharing a car — which is why the HOV lane and carpooling are popular — but you’re also reducing tailpipe emissions.”
Overall, greenhouse emissions rose by 6.8% from 2020 to 2021, with the bulk of increases being driven by the roughly 7% rise in CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, according to a research study from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“The increase in fossil fuel consumption emissions was due primarily to economic activity rebounding after the COVID-19 pandemic,” the EPA said.
Although Zevo’s peer-to-peer EV-sharing platform will be the first-to-market, the brand isn’t necessarily concerned with outside competition coming in and replicating its business model.
“It’s very difficult for them [car-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft] to make the maneuver into EVs,” Sher told The Dallas Express.
“They have pre-established teams in place, they have C suites in place, and they have shareholders to appease, so they can’t just flip the switch and do it overnight,” he explained.
“Revenue from many of these companies has dropped significantly due to being too embedded within the gasoline mafia. With less revenue, they won’t have the financial means to shift their business model to include EVs,” Sher said. “Making such a switch would dilute their current messaging, and in the end, they wouldn’t ever be able to claim exclusivity for net zero,” he added.
To sign up as a host or guest, users must first download the Zevo app from the Apple or Google store, input their account details, and then verify their ID. After the initial setup is completed, users will have to wait until the official launch in July before they can use the innovative EV transportation service.
