Carshop|The company financed by ex-formula driver Nico Rosberg delivers electric cars to Finland from Germany. The company’s co-founder explains how everything works.
from Germany more and more used electric cars are coming to Finland in a way that a former formula driver with Finnish roots is getting involved with Nico Rosberg.
Online Called Cardino the marketplace delivers fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids to domestic car dealerships. Now it received seed funding of four million euros, and Rosberg’s company is one of the financiers. Seed financing simply means the first kick for a business, financing the initial phase of a new company.
“We have an electrification agenda from a slightly different angle than the industry in general. Everyone focuses on producing new cars, but we focus on those cars finding their second, next home”, says one of the founders of the service to HS Lukasz Pajak.
He complains that this corner got after burning race gasoline according to Rosberg, who became an investor in the green transition.
The Germans so drivers put their electric cars up for sale in the service, and Finnish chains can leave offers for them
You can get a rough metaphor Autovex, which competes for car dealerships in Finland, although Cardino works beyond the limits and tries to handle the entire process including transport. With the help of a subcontracting company, the cars are typically driven to Lüpekki and from there by sea to Finland.
The company started operations in Berlin last year and expanded to Finland last year. Business works in slightly different ways in different countries, but in Finland the pipeline is open between the stores and the German market.
Cardino says that he has forwarded about a thousand cars here so far. According to Pajak, on the purchasing side, there are big chains like Kamux and Saka.
Cardino’s income is based on commission.
Germany According to Pajak, it is a suitable country to buy because there are enough cars there and the local seller might get more money by selling his car to Finland with a higher income level.
In a certain way, the company’s timing is right, because the trade of used cars in Finland is now pulling harder for new ones. At the beginning of the year, sales of used cars through car dealerships were seven percent busier than last yearwhile new car registrations are about 14 percent behind.
HS has written about the Swedish import car boom, and Cardino is considering expanding there as well. The advantage of Sweden is that practically all cars are equipped for winter. In Germany, the situation may be something completely different.
“[Saksasta] our bestseller is the version of the Polestar 2 with a heat pump.”
Unlike a combustion engine, electric cars do not generate waste heat that could be used to heat the car in freezing weather. They are often heated by a battery-powered heating element or a pump, the latter of which is more energy efficient.
Along with Polestar, Tesla’s SUV Model Y is brought to Finland a lot, says Cardino. Here, the Y-car is being finished off the line.
In the marketplace do not trade in only gasoline or diesel engines. Pajak believes that Europe will become electrified.
“It’s just a question of timing: how long does it take for the driving force to change. Electrification is linked to energy self-sufficiency, which Europe can build”, he says and mentions Olkiluoto as an example as an alternative to imported oil.
In Central Europe, however, the problem is the insufficient charging infrastructure. Pajak here refers to Germany and his native Poland as Finnish.
“Poland is a vast country, and the infrastructure just isn’t there yet. If you have an electric car, you can live in Warsaw or Krakow, but even when going to the suburbs, commuting to work is affected by the charger situation.”
Four the company plans to use the million pot for technological development and expansion. According to Pajak, the online platform is trying to get more detailed information about the history of each car.
The battery condition of fully electric cars deteriorates over time. At some point, light battery tests are to be added to the service, so that an estimate of the condition of each car’s battery can be obtained online.
“However, the market for electric cars is at an early stage, because the cars are relatively new. Battery tests don’t mean that much yet, but of course this will change as the market and the share of old cars grows.”
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