Company’s first shared mobility platform; Bosch launches eScooter sharing service under new Coup brand

- Coup sharing service is now available in Berlin - Access is by invitation to start - 200 electrically powered and connected eScooters offer individual, flexible and emissions-free mobility - Nearest eScooters can be located, booked and used at any time - Coup is the result of an innovation partnership with BCG Digital Ventures and collaboration with Gogoro Stuttgart/Berlin – Bosch is launching its new Coup eScooter sharing service in Berlin. Coup, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bosch, now provides Berlin residents with a new mobility option featuring a simple pricing model. Customers can now find, reserve and use their nearest eScooter at any time. After reaching their destination, they simply drop off the scooter anywhere in the city center. “With Coup, Bosch is launching its first purely end-user and concessions business in the mobility sector and creating a new independent brand,” says Dr. Markus Heyn, the member of the Bosch board of management responsible for the project. Two hundred connected and all-electric scooters produced by Gogoro, a leading eScooter brand, will be available for the launch in Berlin. Large cities are characterized by traffic jams and a shortage of parking spaces, yet they also trigger the desire for individual mobility. “Coup wants to help overcome the urban mobility challenge,” Heyn says. Especially the younger generation demands mobility and flexibility – owning a car is no longer seen as necessary. “Mobility requirements and demands are changing. Bosch wants to shape this change with their own mobility and service solutions,” Heyn says. As a result, the company is already working on solutions for connected parking management, cloud-based fleet management, and app-based mobility assistants that support the multimodal use of different types of transport. The new Coup sharing service represents an additional building block for the Mobility Solutions business sector. New clients, new partners To start with, 200 connected eScooters will be available in the Berlin neighborhoods of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, and Kreuzberg. They have a maximum speed of approximately 28 mph so that everyone over 21 holding a car or motorcycle driving license can use them. The storage compartment under the seat fits one helmet and two swappable batteries. In the future, a second helmet will be provided. The eScooters have a range of around 62 miles. Customers will not have to worry about recharging – Coup will handle this for them. The pricing model is based on a flat-rate fee which charges 3 euros for 30 minutes or 20 euros for the whole day. The service is accessed via an accompanying app, whose intuitive interface makes it simple to find, book, and pay for a scooter. Even opening the helmet box is controlled by smartphone, which is connected to the eScooter via Bluetooth. Coup is collaborating closely with Gogoro on this project. First established in 2011, this Asian start-up has rapidly become the global leader for connected and electrically powered scooters, which are now also available on European roads thanks to Coup. The set-up and operation of the sharing platform have taken place in close strategic partnership with BCG Digital Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of the Boston Consulting Group. “We have jointly developed Coup based on the MVP principle (minimum viable product). We are now quickly entering the market with a basic version to ‘test and learn’ together with our users in order to further refine our service,” says Mat Schubert, who is responsible for the Mobility Services project at Bosch as well as the CEO of Coup Mobility GmbH. “In the near future, we will see which urban areas have the highest demand. On this basis, we will then gradually expand our service.” Press images: 1-BBM-22368, 1-BBM-22369, 1-BBM-22370, 1-BBM-22371 Futher links: www.joincoup.com Mobility Solutions is the largest Bosch Group business sector. In 2015, its sales came to 41.7 billion euros, or 59 percent of total group sales. This makes the Bosch Group one of the leading automotive suppliers. The Mobility Solutions business sector combines the group’s expertise in three mobility domains – automation, electrification, and connectivity – and offers its customers integrated mobility solutions. Its main areas of activity are injection technology and powertrain peripherals for internal-combustion engines, diverse solutions for powertrain electrification, vehicle safety systems, driver-assistance and automated functions, technology for user-friendly infotainment as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, repair-shop concepts, and technology and services for the automotive aftermarket. Bosch is synonymous with important automotive innovations, such as electronic engine management, the ESP anti-skid system, and common-rail diesel technology. The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 375,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2015). The company generated sales of 70.6 billion euros in 2015. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing and sales network covers some 150 countries. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. Bosch employs 55,800 associates in research and development at 118 locations across the globe. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to deliver innovations for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, twitter.com/BoschPresse