May 5, 2021: -On Tuesday, Bolt, the Estonian firm best known for its ride-hailing business, announced that it had launched a car-sharing service in Europe to diversify its revenue streams.

Such as ZipCar and Drivy, Bolt Drive will permit customers to rent a car on demand for a brief period via the Bolt app, which can be used to hail a taxi, rent bikes, and e-scooters, and order food.

Bolt said it would invest 20 million euros in launching Bolt Drive in Europe this year, beginning with a pilot in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, the place it is headquartered. The company’s spokesperson said Bolt Drive would launch in few other European markets this year if the Tallinn pilot succeeds.

The pilot would feature 500 vehicles, including models like the Toyota Yaris, Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Scala, and bigger cars such as Toyota CHR, Volkswagen Troc, and Skoda Kamiq. There will also be electric cars such as the Volkswagen ID.3 and premium cars like Volkswagen Arteon.

Costs will depend on the car that is rented. But a Toyota Yaris, for example, will cost 0.07 euros per minute and 0.15 euros per km. Meaning, the price of renting a Toyota Yaris for two hours and driving it 10 km would be 9.30 euros. Paying for parking or fuel is not required.

Markus Villig, CEO and founder of Bolt, said that he wants people to give up their cars. “For people to switch from ownership to on-demand transport, we need to offer an affordable and environmentally sustainable option for every distance,” said Villig, the youngest founder of a billion-dollar company in Europe in 2019.

“We are already doing this for short and medium distance trips. Bolt Drive now covers the rest of the use cases, whether it’s a trip to a shopping mall or a weekend getaway.”

Bolt, which claims to have more than 50 million users across 40 countries in Europe and Africa, is valued at around $2 billion. It raised 150 million euros last December in its most considerable funding round to date and 20 million euros from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) last month.