ERide, a Wilmington-based electric vehicle transportation startup, aims to fill the gap between calling an Uber and a limousine.

The company was founded by Andrew Emborsky, a project manager at Corning, in September. With one employee who wears a host of hats, Tim Elze, the team of two aims to give Wilmington businesspeople a luxury ride using EVs from American automaker Lucid Motors.

“People aren't necessarily happy with the service, especially on like scheduled rides (of Uber and Lyft),” Emborsky said. “The scheduled ride seems like there's a huge gap in the market where rideshares can't service it. And then limousine companies — it's just overkill with what somebody needs.”

Emborsky’s experience working in automation and self-driving cars fueled an infatuation with EV company Tesla and its vision of self-driving cars, he said. He turned his intrigue into a business model when he found the application of a scheduled driving service. EVs conveniently are outfitted with the latest technology and are a quieter ride for passengers than traditional gas vehicles, he said.

Customers can schedule a ride on eride.info for $25 anywhere in Wilmington. A membership, which costs $250 per month, gives riders priority when scheduling rides and a slight discount on the service. ERide has 13 members across Wilmington, Elze said. He usually does nine rides on a Saturday night or between 25 to 30 rides in a week.

With the help of investors in a friends and family capital raise, the business can operate at a net loss for at least one year, Elze said. Emborsky’s full-time job at Corning helps him finance his business as well, he said. 

The startup has organized a partnership with the Commodore Club, a social club and restaurant at Wrightsville Yacht Club on the Intracoastal Waterway that is expected to open in May. The deal will give Commodore Club clients the option to schedule an ERide vehicle to get home.

“They can't have everybody driving there themselves,” Emborsky said. “They can't have everybody coming by boat themselves. They need different opportunities for people to arrive, so we developed a partnership.”

The Commodore Club team plans to include ERide scheduling information on the Commodore Club website, allowing customers to schedule an ERide vehicle along with their dining reservation, Elze said. 

The startup chauffers its clients in vehicles manufactured by Lucid Motors, a California-based electric vehicle company. After driving EVs from a few different automakers, Emborsky decided Lucid EVs are large, have good driving range between charges and high-profile technology, he said. The two companies don’t have a partnership so much as a collaborative friendship, Emborsky said. Driving Lucid cars is an opportunity for joint advertising, he said.

Elze sees the business’s priority as giving customers a luxury experience. The EV aspect of the business model simply provides the best cars for a quiet, comfortable ride, he said. He doesn’t believe that customers are signing up for the experience because the cars are electric.

Emborsky and Elze plan to hire another part-time driver to work 20 to 30 hours a week to expand the company’s driving availability.