Share Now

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SHARE NOW GmbH
Joint venture
Industry Car rental
Predecessor car2go, DriveNow
Founded 2008; 16 years ago (2008)
Headquarters Berlin, Germany
Number of locations
 16
Services Carsharing
Owners
Website share-now.com

SHARE NOW GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of car2go and DriveNow. It is a joint venture of the Mercedes-Benz Group and BMW providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe, and formerly in North America. It has over four million registered members and a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles in 18 cities across Europe.[1][2]

The company offers only Smart, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mini, Fiat and Citroën vehicles and arranges one-way point-to-point rentals.[3] Users are charged by the minute, or by hourly and daily rates.[4] A smartphone app is used to enable hirers to access the vehicle.

In May 2022, ShareNow was sold to Stellantis.[5]

History

Daimler introduced the service in Ulm, Germany, in October 2008,[6] where it was developed by one of its internal business innovation units and was first tested exclusively by Daimler employees.[7] The original idea, "rent a car by minute, when and how long I want, where I am and where I go", was announced in Munich by the Galileo competition Master, VULOG. VULOG started the service in 2007 in Antibes, and discovered by a French consultant, working for Daimler.

Starting in May 2015, car2go added a $1 'Driver Protection Fee' for each ride to offset the lowered deductible.[8]

File:Smart Fortwo EQ Car2goStuttgart IMG 0813.jpg
car2go car in Stuttgart

Since inception, car2go withdrew from several locations, including Britain, where it closed its service in London and Birmingham after only a year of operation.[9] Because of a lack of charging stations, car2go in San Diego, California, replaced its all-electric vehicle fleet with gasoline-powered cars starting on 1 May 2016. When the service started in 2011, car2go expected 1,000 charging stations to be deployed around the city, but only 400 were in place by early 2016. As a result, an average of 20% of the carsharing fleet is unavailable at any given time because the cars are either being charged or do not have enough charge to be driven.[10] At the end of 2016 car2go left the San Diego market.[11]

In January 2018, Daimler and BMW appeared to prepare the merger of their carsharing subsidiaries to strengthen their market position.[12] On March 1, 2018, Daimler announced that its subsidiary Daimler Mobility Services had acquired the 25% stake of minority shareholder Europcar Group for an undisclosed amount to now hold 100% of car2go's European subsidiary. The new combined company is called ShareNow.[13]

Downsizing

In late 2019, the company announced that it would close all North American operations (New York City NY, Seattle WA, and Washington DC in the United States; Montreal QC, and Vancouver BC in Canada) on 29 February 2020 because of excessive competition, increasing costs of operation and its limited infrastructure for supporting electric vehicles. Service in London, Brussels and Florence would also cease because of inadequate usage. That would leave ShareNow with operations in 18 cities in Europe, locations that "show the greatest potential for profitable growth and mobility innovation", according to the company.[14][15]

Locations

Current

The following table details all locations where ShareNow is active:[2]

20pxindicates electric fleet

81x81px 107x107px Citroën
City Country Fleet fortwo forfour CLA GLA A-Class B-Class C3 DriveNow Start date
Amsterdam 18px Netherlands 300 18px Nov 2011
Berlin Germany 1,800 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ April 2012
Budapest Hungary 240 ✔/18px April 2019
Copenhagen Denmark 500 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/18px Sep 2015
Düsseldorf/Cologne Germany 1,100 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Jan 2012
Frankfurt Germany 300 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Sep 2014
Hamburg Germany 1,100 ✔/18px ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/18px April 2011
Madrid 18px Spain 600 18px 18px Nov 2015
Milan Italy 1,400 ✔/cabrio ✔ ✔ Aug 2013
Munich Germany 1,000 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/18px June 2013
Paris 18px France 700 18px Jan 2019
Rome Italy 600 ✔/cabrio ✔ Mar 2014
Stuttgart 18px Germany 350 18px Nov 2012
Turin Italy 350 ✔/cabrio ✔ Mar 2015
Vienna Austria 1,000 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Dec 2011

Former

The following table details all locations where car2go is no longer active as of July 2019:

City/
Municipality		 Country Start date End date Reference
Ulm Germany October 2008 December 2014 [16][17]
Lyon France February 2012 June 2012 [18]
London United Kingdom December 2012 May 2014 [19]
Birmingham United Kingdom May 2013 May 2014 [20]
South Bay, Los Angeles United States June 2014 June 2015 [21]
Eugene, Oregon United States October 2014 June 2015 [22]
Copenhagen Denmark September 2014 January 2016 [23]
Miami United States July 2012 February 2016 [24]
Stockholm Sweden November 2014 September 2016 [25]
Minneapolis-Saint Paul United States September 2013 December 2016 [26]
San Diego United States November 2011 December 2016 [27]
Toronto Canada June 2012 June 2018 [28]
Columbus United States October 2013 June 2018
Chongqing China April 2016 June 2019 [29]
Austin United States May 2010 October 2019 [30]
Calgary Canada July 2012 October 2019 [30]
Denver United States June 2013 October 2019 [30]
Portland, Oregon United States Mar 2012 October 2019 [30]
Chicago United States Jul 2018 December 2019
Vancouver Canada Jun 2011 February 2020
Washington, D.C. United States Mar 2012 February 2020
Seattle United States Dec 2012 February 2020
Montreal Canada Nov 2013 February 2020
Florence Italy Jun 2014 February 2020
New York City United States Oct 2014 February 2020
Helsinki Finland May 2017 March 2020 [31]
Lisbon Portugal Sep 2017 March 2020 [31]

Business model

File:Car2Go 04 2012 DC 3759.JPG
car2go member card reader that allows access to the vehicle

The car2go business model is similar in all markets, although rates vary by location. The company charges a per minute rate, with discounted fixed rates for hourly and daily usage also available and applied automatically.[32] The rates are all-inclusive and cover rental, gas, insurance, parking (in authorized areas), and maintenance, a low fixed annual fee is sometimes also charged. In most markets, car2go vehicles can park in either specially designated parking spots, or in standard parking areas, with a special permit from the local municipality.[33] Users have the option of refueling cars with a supplied charge card, customers receive bonus minutes for performing this service.

Vehicles

Two car2go Smart electric drive cars charging at the Herengracht in Amsterdam
File:Car2Go Car Sharing (48118315597).jpg
car2go 4-door Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class in Vancouver

In most cities, car2go offers only two-passenger vehicles, namely two types of Smart Fortwo "car2go edition" vehicles: gasoline-powered, and electric-powered. The gasoline-powered cars can be found in three variants based on roof configuration: "original" with integrated solar panel roof; "upgraded" with a panoramic polycarbonate roof and power side mirrors; and "new" featuring a standard roof.[citation needed] Electric car2go models are currently available in several markets, have a range of 84 miles (135 km), and need to be recharged every two or three days.[34] In its Canadian markets, car2go has a pilot program in place to supplement its fleet with a small number of four-door Mercedes B-class vehicles.[35][36] car2go is currently adding Mercedes GLA and CLA to its locations worldwide.

Apps

First-party and third-party apps for mobile devices allow users to locate and reserve vehicles.[37] When reserving a car online, the customers are able to see the car's fuel gauge (gasoline-powered cars) or the battery's state of charge (electric-powered cars), so if the customer wants to go for an extended drive, they can find the right car for that trip.[38]

See also

References

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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

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