Aidan McClean, co-founder and CEO of UFODRIVE, joined Cheddar News to discuss how his company plans to shake up the car rental market with a digital experience. "There are no lines, there are no paperwork, there is no key collection ... no pushy insurance or pushy fuel options," he said. "You simply arrive for your electric car, use your smartphone and drive away."

Closing Bell

EV Rental Company UFODRIVE Offers Modern Digital Experience

Take a look at what is shaken out in the world of ipos startups and beyond. On this Friday one start up shaking things up is UFO Drive. The company says it aims to disrupt the car rental industry. The company offers an all digital, all electric car rental service controlled from an app and says it now operates in 10 major US markets after opening its first US operation in San Francisco in August of last year. Joining me now is Aidan mclean, co founder and CEO of Drive Aidan. Thanks so much for coming on the show on this Friday. Thank you for having me this evening. All right. So talk to me more about how your company is trying to shake up this car rental space. Yeah. So UO Drive as you pronounced it in Europe started really from my own personal frustration with car rental. You know, I'm sure many listeners and viewers have had the same experience of waiting in line not getting in the car. You want, you know the paperwork, the key, etcetera. We wanted to completely offer a radically better car rental experience uh really to be industry beating in terms of user experience, which is what we've done. UO Drive is now the highest the car rental experience in the world. And we achieved that by a complete digital experience. So it's arrive and drive in two minutes. Everything is controlled from an app. There are no lines, there are no paperwork, there is no cube, a key collection. There's no pushy insurance or pushy fuel options. You simply arrive at your electric car, use your smartphone and drive away. Ok. For our viewers in the US watching. Which markets is it available in? Yeah. So as you said earlier in your introduction, we launched just in August last year in San Francisco. We're now in New York, Chicago, Boston, Austin, Miami. I'm sure we're missing a few there but 10 major US cities uh in, since August last year and we're also in 25 locations in Europe in all major cities in Europe, Aidan. How easy is it to call or rent one of these vehicles? Do people need to book in advance or can they simply do a day off both book in advance or turn up and book and book the car within two minutes in your smartphone. The entire registration user verification, the insurance options. Everything is all with your phone, you simply tap top, open the car and drive away. Ok. Let's talk about prices here, obviously, inflation very much in focus for consumers trying to save right now. What's the average price point for a user. Well, it depends on what time of the year, what time of the week and what time you, you, you rent and for how long you rent. So for example, a multiday week rental, it will be up to less than 50 $50 per day for tests. The model three for a Tesla model Y be a little bit more expensive and other models like Poles, Star and other exciting E V S coming on stream. I think people might be looking at the app. We're showing some video imagery a of the app right now. You're calling it UFO. I called it UFO, but we'll take your cue. There also looks like UFO Drive. Is there a play on words here in the name of the company? It is UFO Drive for English mother tongue. But I, I'm actually an Irish man living in Luxembourg for the last 12 years and continental Europeans pronounce uh you, so I have gone native and call it Drive. You can call it what you like, but it is, it is UFO Drive, this UFO Drive Drive, uh A mclean. We appreciate the time. Very cool stuff. Aidan is the co founder and CEO of UFO or UFO Drive, whatever you wanna call it.