Electric car-sharing Zen Car goes bust

Electric car-sharing operator Zen Car, active in Belgium since 2011, goes into judicial reorganization. After showing difficulties to make the car-sharing model work in Belgium, and a failed attempt to work on B2B solutions, the coronavirus crisis put the final nail in Zen Car’s coffin. The company is now in the hands of a court officer who is trying to price its IT solution and electric charge-point assets.

During the summer, the Business Court of Brussels validated Zen Car’s application for judicial reorganization. The court has appointed a delegated judge and a lawyer as a legal representative. He is in charge of selling parts or the whole of the company. There goes the end of a car-sharing operator active in Brussels since 2011.

Trials and errors

Unfortunately, this announcement doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone. At the beginning of the year, the company finally admitted to the difficulty of operating a car-sharing business in Belgium.

“The company car is an institution in this country. Belgians have difficulties in giving up their cars in favor of car-sharing. The rate of use remains too low, and there are no tax incentives,” noted Laurent Carion, CEO of Zen Car, in early 2020.

The company tried to switch to B2B solutions. It even made sixty cars available to different companies to be used as pool cars. However, that didn’t cut it, and the coronavirus health crisis made the company’s hope for growth vanish into thin air.

As the cars were leased, the legal representative can fall back on the company’s IT solutions for mobility and also the network of charging points developed around Brussels.