Voi was founded in 2018 and has quickly become one of the world's largest players in micromobility. They have over 50,000 electric scooters in operation every day in 50 cities, in 11 European countries. In the long run, they want to be active all over the world and also offer electric bikes to their users. They work according to the vision "Cities for people - with reduced emissions, lower noise levels and a Europe without congestion", where both sustainability and safety are important keywords.
- The whole idea of sustainability is very important to us! We want to know what the process looks like from the scooter being produced, to how the electricity that the scooter is powered by is produced, to how the scooter is recycled, says Erik Bergqvist, Head of Public Policy Projects at Voi.
With more than 50,000 electric scooters in operation every day, Voi is, to say the least, an intensive electricity user. Previously, Voi had 6-7 different electricity suppliers to meet their electricity needs. Voi was therefore eager to find a new electricity partner who could replace the others and who could work internationally.
- Having several different electricity agreements with many different electricity companies has been very complicated - a real mess honestly. Now we have one electricity agreement with one electricity company and it feels really nice. A big advantage now is also that we have a contact person at Fortum who helps us with everything we need. The transition from the other electricity companies went very smoothly as Fortum solved everything for us, says Erik Bergqvist.
Erik also says that they wanted an electricity supplier who not only supplies electricity but also produces it. They think it is important to have an understanding of the entire electricity journey and be able to choose to only buy hydropower.
- We want an energy source that is renewable and that has as little negative impact on the environment as possible. That is why we chose to have hydropower from Fortum's hydropower plant in Bergvik, says Erik Bergqvist.
Voi is not only an electricity customer at Fortum, but also run several sustainability and innovation projects together. One of the projects is to recycle the scooter batteries. Thanks to Fortum's hydrometallic process, more than 80% of the batteries can be recycled and substances such as cobalt, manganese and nickel enter the production of new batteries. Batteries are one of the major environmental challenges today, so it is extra important to focus on a more climate-smart use and handling of these.
Another project is based on the recycling sector's major challenges around traceability, or rather the lack of it. Often several players are involved in the recycling and it can be difficult for a customer to really know that their material is handled and recycled in the right way. Therefore, it is important to be able to track the material at all levels. Fortum is developing methods to be able to achieve such traceability and the collaboration with Voi is part of that work. The goal is that every shipment of material from Voi can be traced all the way back to the market as a new raw material or fuel.
- Fortum does much more than sell electricity. Our relationship is very unique due to the large projects we do together. It's fun to have a partner who shares the same ambitions on how to reach a more carbon-neutral society. This is just the beginning of our collaboration, Erik Bergqvist concludes.