MyWheels appoints Laurens van de Vijver as new CEO

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 10, 2024 — Car-sharing provider MyWheels has appointed Laurens van de Vijver as its new CEO. With the appointment of Van de Vijver, MyWheels is at the beginning of a new chapter, in which it will focus on car sharing as part of the European energy transition with a 'mobile neighborhood battery', together with parent company The Sharing Group.

Van de Vijver had an international career at companies including Heineken, Mars, packaging materials producer Tetra Pak and clothing brand GANT, before he took office as CEO of hairdressing giant Wave International. There he made the hairdressing chains Cosmo and Team Kappers profitable again, followed by the incorporation of the company by the global market leader Provalliance. At MyWheels, Van de Vijver faces a new challenge, in a sector that is new to him.

“MyWheels has grown tremendously in recent years and counts over 250,000 members, who drive over a million kilometers per week with almost 3,000 shared cars. The challenge is to translate this growth further into the platform and the organization, whereby we will connect more worlds. Our goal is to make the role of mobility part of the energy transition,” says Van de Vijver.

MyWheels offers the most diverse range of electric shared cars in the Netherlands and works together with municipalities, real estate developers and companies to solve mobility challenges. MyWheels does this together with the parent company The Sharing Group, which also includes energy companies EnergyZero and Hegg Energy. The companies are working together with the forerunner in bidirectional charging We Drive Solar on the 'mobile neighborhood battery': electric shared cars that can not only charge, but can also supply power from the car's battery back to the local network. By doing so, the shared cars contribute to alleviating the grid congestion problem.

Founder and CEO of The Sharing Group Henri de Jong, who is passing the baton as interim CEO, says: “We are pleased to welcome Laurens as our new CEO. In addition to his experience, he brings a great amount of energy, which will help MyWheels to streamline all facets of the next phase of growth. With full confidence, we wish Laurens all the best in continuing our mission to accelerate the mobility and energy transition.”