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30 Mar 2022 | 3 min read
Birò is the world’s smallest electric vehicle, and an Italian first. The vehicle is achieving enormous success in its home country and around Europe. That’s because its features are definitely unique.
Birò combines the safety of a car and the advantages of a moped. Riding a Birò is also cheaper than driving an automobile, and definitely easier to park. At the same time, it is safer than a motorbike: it is the smart 4 wheels solution to weathering. It manages to be eco-friendly, and futuristic at once.
Birò represents an all-Italian success story. The electric vehicle was created in 2008 by Estrima, which carries out R&D, design, production and distribution of electric vehicles under the Birò brand, and between 2010 and 2011 it became the most registered electric vehicle in Italy. Further, due to the fact that it is a covered vehicle, it has already crossed the national borders to establish itself in cities such as Amsterdam and London, quickly gaining the interest of several companies, professionals, and travellers from different cities.
Birò is an innovative idea to give everyone the freedom to move around their cities. The city is its natural habitat where the benefits of a Birò can be experienced by everyone, such as the protection from the weather, the rapidity of movement in traffic jams, and the safety during day and night driving. It also guarantees the same advantages as when driving an electric moped such as the minimum cost per kilometre and easy parking.
As for a moped, Birò also allows you to get around the city centre in an extremely easy way. When riding the vehicle, you can access all restricted traffic zones free of charge.
The company is embarking on a strategy of further expansion. The goal is to enlarge Estrima’s sales network in a further 23 European cities by 2025, expanding its presence by opening new Birò Stores and establishing a network of local partners.
Indeed, a new Birò Store has just been inaugurated in the heart of Le Marais in Paris, where an important network of sales partners will be set up throughout France. Furthermore, the recent joint participation with 2hire at Autonomy Paris , one of the biggest international mobility events, has been an excellent opportunity to openly showcase about the new era of connected Biròs.
The convention was also an opportunity to open up about the partnership with 2hire as official technology provider. In fact, since 2021 every Birò that is produced is natively integrated from the factory with a 2hire board.
The start of this collaboration marked the beginning of a new chapter, in which the connectivity of 2hire and the flexibility of Birò combined to create a 2.0 mobility product.
There are different kinds of Birò vehicles, but all of them share some advantages:
This means drivers don’t need to have a space like a garage to charge their vehicle, nor do they need to look for electric charging stations (that can anyway being used as well). They can simply unplug the battery and charge it at home, in the office, wherever they want. It is extremely moderate in size and easy to transport, but not inefficient. The battery allows the minicar to travel up to 55 km on a single charge, thanks to the small design and light-weight of the car itself too.
One of the points that make us at 2hire proud is that the Birò O2 model is the first 100% electric four-wheeled vehicle made from 80% recycled plastic.
“Less plastic on the planet, and more clean air in our cities”, as the company declared.
Having a Birò O2, it is a support to the #ChangeClimateChange Legambiente’s campaign. Both Estrima and Legambiente believe in the importance of making the world a greener place and actively strive together to fulfil their mission.
The flexibility and modularity of Birò has made it possible to build different solutions around this vehicle.
In September 2021, Estrima presented the smartphone app Birò Share at the mobility event Citytech in Milan. The car is equipped with full remote management, geolocalisation, and service management via the technology entirely developed by 2hire.
A family, business, and community car-sharing service is offered to users and owners of Birò, who are able to share the vehicle with up to three people and manage the sharing simply by typing into their mobile phones.
But that’s not all: Birò doesn’t need a starter key anymore. Through the sharing solution provided by 2hire, the Birò Share app makes it possible to directly manage interactions with the vehicle, keylessly!
A further new entry in Estrima’s world has been the possibility of developing an end-to-end sharing solution thanks to the flexibility of 2hire’s technology, one of the latest projects on which the two companies have worked closely together.
This project has seen Estrima develop the brand new Birò Share as a sharing service, which will initially launch in a few Italian municipalities, with the goal of branching out afterwards.
The Birò Share project includes:
This new project within the world of Birò does not only involve the digitisation of vehicles, but the digitisation of the entire business.
Sales and Marketing Associate at 2hire
I love running and daydreaming losing count of the distance I’m covering, cooking (and especially eating) and Drake is my spirit guide.
