GreenMobility office in the middle of Helsinki's operations in Hakaniemi
GreenMobility rents shared cars in Helsinki and Espoo. Founded in Denmark, the company offers city dwellers an alternative way to get around. GreenMobility's operations in Finland have been led from Boffice Hakaniemi since 2020.
GreenMobility has an 11m² office room in Boffice Hakaniemi with an electric desk, a sofa for team meetings and a mini-warehouse in the center of the company.
"Car-sharing has become more common in European cities in recent years, but compared to competitors, GreenMobility is not backed by a major car brand or operator, but by Danish serial entrepreneur Henrik Isaksen, who also owns the Sixt car rental license in the country," Tomas Basili says about the company's background.
GreenMobility has more than 100 employees and a total of 1700 cars on offer in 11 cities in 6 different countries. The range consists only of all-electric cars, most of which are nifty Renault Zoe cars. On average, these can be found every 500 meters on several street corners.
Leading operations in Finland
"I joined GreenMobility with Avis Budget, where I was responsible for customer satisfaction, among other things," Tomas says.
The silence of corona prompted Tomas to apply for the position of City Manager of GreenMobility. In December 2022, together with his team, he launched GreenMobility's operations in Finland.
GreenMobility, which is listed on the Danish stock exchange, has a small team in Finland. Tomas is the only one who works his days mainly at the Hakaniemi office. The rest of the team is responsible for operational activities, moving, charging and washing cars. Tomas' job description includes leading the team, promoting local partnerships and growing the customer base in cooperation with marketing in Denmark.
According to Tomas, the operations have started to run well in Finland. There are currently 150 electric shared cars available. In addition to an interesting market, the expansion to Helsinki was based on the City's own goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving carbon neutrality by, for example, increasing car sharing.
"Espoo was opened in autumn 2022, but the parking rules and charging infrastructure of Espoo and Vantaa still pose challenges for the expansion," Tomas says and continues, "The team spends most of its days on the road with cars, but from time to time the operational team also stops by Hakaniemi to eat, pick up supplies or at a meeting.
"Hakaniemi is a good place where it's easy for team members to go for a meeting or lunch."
First office in Finland
When the Finnish operations were about to be launched, Tomas started an investigation into where the company's office would be established. Tomas and his team visited the premises of a few well-known operators, but these options were, in Tomas' words, quite expensive. Tomas found Boffice on Google. Boffice Hakaniemi was of a suitable size, the location was optimal for the operations and the price was right, so the choice was easy in the end.
"Price, size and location," Tomas says when asked why the company chose Boffice Hakaniemi. A functional communal kitchen was also an important criterion in the selection, as Tomas enjoys meal prepping (e.g. preparing lunches for the whole week at once) and wanted to offer others the same opportunity.
"In other places, the price is based on the fact that there are printers, telephone rooms and other additional services. We didn't need these, so choosing Boffice was easy."
- Tomas Basil
The most special thing at the office
Although Hakaniemi has more than 20 office rooms, Tomas says that he rarely sees neighbors. You will see a little more of the wall neighbors, but others mainly when you go to eat. You can work in peace, but you can exchange news at lunchtime in connection with other tenants.
GreenMobility has its own 11m² office room, where Tomas works at an standing desk. The office room also serves as a convenient downtown mini-storage room with accessories for cars such as headlights, wiper blades and glass washer fluid. It is easy for team members to come and pick up supplies during the day and avoid a longer trip to the actual warehouse, which is located at the premises of the co-operation workshop in Malmi.
Dog straps are also used in electric cars.
"Dog leashes are perhaps the most special thing in the office," Tomas says and continues, "we figured that the best way to make sure that the charging cables for cars are not lost is to get retractable straps for walking dogs. With these, the cables always stay with the car and do not lay on the ground while charging."
Tomas considers the most important thing in his own office to be the light that comes through the window of the quiet courtyard window at Hakaniemi's office. As the best thing to improve office work, Tomas mentions the Radiot.fi website, where he listens to YLEX's broadcast during the working day.
"Here you'll find everything you need to get through your working day and get your work done. If you need to talk to Boffice, you'll get a quick answer."
- Tomas Basili, GreenMobility
In the future, more growth and cars are in the plans. Naturally, GreenMobility wants to have a positive impact on the environment by reducing the number of private cars. According to studies, one shared car replaces 7-11 private cars, and thus the city centre areas can be freed up for other uses. Tomas says that many customers have said that they have given up the car and others have scrapped their plans on buying their own car.
The biggest threshold for the spread of electric cars and electric car-sharing is still charging. Many are concerned about the adequacy of the range of the car. However, Tomas says that the charging infrastructure has evolved tremendously over the past few years.
"You can still use your phone even if you only have 30% of the battery left, the same goes for cars."
All cars have sufficient charging for typical rides and if the customer books the car in advance, Tomas' team ensures that the batteries are almost full. So don't be nervous, but just give it a try.
GreenMobility – The key to an electric car on the phone for hundreds of cars.
Founded in 2016 in Denmark, Finland in 2020
+100 employees, of which 6 in Finland
11m² office in Boffice Hakaniemi
1 workstation, sofa & mini storage
