[Homo Muvens] "We made it possible for customers to fully enjoy electric cars in their preferred way"

Lee Mincheol, CEO of RideNow
Launch of Electric Vehicle Specialized App 'RideNow'
300,000 Downloads in One Year
Plans to Expand Business Areas to Charging and Used Cars

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] "RideNow is a company that timely provides all the services necessary for electric vehicle consumption."

Lee Mincheol, CEO of RideNow and former Tesla Korea employee, said on the 18th, "Currently, we mainly offer electric vehicle test drives, but from the second half of the year, we will expand our business areas to include vehicle purchases, charging, and used cars."

RideNow allows customers to test drive vehicles at their desired time, for their desired duration, and in their preferred way. It was launched to overcome the time constraints and limited performance experience of traditional vehicle test drives. RideNow is growing rapidly. Since the app launch in June last year, it has surpassed 300,000 downloads in just over a year. CEO Lee explained that the growth has been driven purely by word of mouth without special promotions.

The biggest advantage of RideNow is that customers can test drive for as long as they want. Currently, RideNow charges only for electric vehicles rented for more than one day. CEO Lee said, "Previously, when purchasing a vehicle, the dealer would accompany the customer for only about 10 to 20 minutes. Electric vehicles differ from internal combustion engines with features like regenerative braking, autonomous driving, and charging issues, and the existing method has limitations in fully experiencing these aspects."

In particular, RideNow said many customers consider purchasing, not just simple vehicle experience. He said, "Customers typically use the service for about 4.5 hours, and many come with their families to experience the vehicle, not just to rent it like a rental car. We noticed many inquiries about parking fees from people who own vehicles and come to test drive, which made us realize this is a market for purchasing."

RideNow is preparing BuyNow accordingly. Currently, purchases are only possible through leasing, but in the future, it plans to enable purchases through various vehicles and methods. CEO Lee said, "Currently, only leasing is available, but we plan to expand the options in the second half of the year. We also plan to significantly increase the brands available for purchase, and to make this possible, we recently hired a new head of sales."

Through this, CEO Lee plans to offer vehicles to customers at reasonable prices. He emphasized, "Even when requesting the same car under the same conditions from dealers, prices vary. This cost difference is ultimately passed on to customers, and we aim to bring transparency to this and innovate the purchasing market."

Along with this, the existing test drive service will also be strengthened. Currently, only Tesla, Hyundai Motor, Kia, Volvo, and Polestar vehicles are available for test drives, but the company plans to expand the brands and the regions where test drives are possible. He said, "Currently, we have only 30 vehicles centered on Tesla, Hyundai, and Kia, but we plan to expand the lineup to include Mercedes-Benz and BMW, securing 80 vehicles in the second half of the year and 200 vehicles next year." He added, "The available regions were mainly Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, but in the second half of the year, we will continuously expand to metropolitan cities and secure more than 100 locations."

RideNow will not stop here but plans to expand its business into electric vehicle charging and used car sectors. The plan is to allow electric vehicle charging anywhere by registering a card with RideNow.

For electric used cars, the company intends to differentiate from traditional internal combustion vehicles. Since battery efficiency is more important than driving range for electric vehicles, RideNow aims to provide accurate value to customers. He said, "Battery efficiency varies greatly depending on how it was charged and consumed, and how it was used in areas other than driving, such as camping in the car. Accurately evaluating this is the standard for determining the value of used electric vehicles." He added, "We are currently preparing tools for this and plan to enable customers to have their electric vehicles properly evaluated."

RideNow is currently preparing for Series A investment. After securing Series B investment in the second half of next year, the company is determined to go public (IPO) within five years. CEO Lee said, "RideNow started with the idea of solving consumers' inconveniences. Our goal is to provide services that allow consumers to use their money wisely and effectively."