Share Now

Share Now GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of car2go and DriveNow. It is a joint venture of Daimler AG and BMW providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe and North America. With over four million registered members and a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles in 18 cities across Europe it is one of the largest carsharing companies in the world.[1][2]

Share Now GmbH
GmbH
IndustryCar rental
Predecessorcar2go, DriveNow
Founded2008 (2008)
Headquarters
Berlin
,
Germany
Number of locations
26
ServicesCarsharing
ParentDaimler AG, BMW
Websitewww.share-now.com

The company offers exclusively Smart, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Mini vehicles and features one-way point-to-point rentals.[3] Users are charged by the minute, with hourly and daily rates available.[4] Cars are user-accessed via a downloadable smartphone app wherever they are parked.

History

Daimler introduced the service in Ulm, Germany, in October 2008,[5] where it was developed by one of its internal business innovation units and was first tested exclusively by Daimler employees.[6]. The original idea, "rent a car by minute, when and how long I want, where I am and where I go", was announced in Muchen 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.[7]

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.[8] Due to a lack of charging stations, car2go in San Diego, California, decided to replace all of 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 because they don’t have enough electricity in them to be driven.[9] At the end of 2016 car2go left the San Diego market.[10]

In January 2018 Daimler and BMW appeared to prepare the merger of their carsharing subsidiaries to strengthen their market position.[11] 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.[12]

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 will also cease because of inadequate usage. That will 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.[13][14]

Locations

Current

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

indicates electric fleet

CityCountryFleet fortwo forfour CLA GLA A-Class B-Class DriveNowStart date
Amsterdam Netherlands300 Nov 2011
BerlinGermany2,500 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/April 2012
Budapest Hungary 240 ✔/ April 2019
Copenhagen Denmark 550 ✔/ Sep 2015
Düsseldorf/CologneGermany1,200 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/Jan 2012
FrankfurtGermany300 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Sep 2014
HamburgGermany1,500 ✔/ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/April 2011
Helsinki Finland 150 ✔/ May 2017
Lisbon Portugal 210 ✔/ Sep 2017
Madrid Spain600 Nov 2015
MilanItaly1,500 ✔/cabrio ✔ ✔/ Aug 2013
MunichGermany1,200 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/June 2013
Paris France 800 Jan 2019
RomeItaly780 ✔/cabrio ✔ Mar 2014
Stuttgart Germany500 ✔/ Nov 2012
TurinItaly500 ✔/cabrio ✔ Mar 2015
ViennaAustria1,400 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔/Dec 2011

Former

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

City/
Municipality		CountryStart dateEnd dateReference
UlmGermanyOctober 2008December 2014[15][16]
LyonFranceFebruary 2012June 2012[17]
LondonUnited KingdomDecember 2012May 2014[18]
BirminghamUnited KingdomMay 2013May 2014[19]
South Bay, Los AngelesUnited StatesJune 2014June 2015[20]
Eugene, OregonUnited StatesOctober 2014June 2015[21]
CopenhagenDenmarkSeptember 2014January 2016[22]
MiamiUnited StatesJuly 2012February 2016[23]
StockholmSwedenNovember 2014September 2016[24]
Minneapolis-Saint PaulUnited StatesSeptember 2013December 2016[25]
San DiegoUnited StatesNovember 2011December 2016[26]
TorontoCanadaJune 2012June 2018[27]
ColumbusUnited StatesOctober 2013June 2018
ChongqingChinaApril 2016June 2019[28]
AustinUnited StatesMay 2010October 2019[29]
CalgaryCanadaJuly 2012October 2019[29]
DenverUnited StatesJune 2013October 2019[29]
Portland, OregonUnited StatesMar 2012October 2019[29]
ChicagoUnited StatesJul 2018December 2019
VancouverCanadaJun 2011February 2020
Washington, D.C.United StatesMar 2012February 2020
SeattleUnited StatesDec 2012February 2020
MontrealCanadaNov 2013February 2020
FlorenceItalyJun 2014February 2020
New York CityUnited StatesOct 2014February 2020

    Business model
    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.[30] 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.[31] 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
    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. 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.[32] 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.[33][34] 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.[35] 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.[36]

    See also

    References
    1. "Yandex to offer car-sharing in Europe as rivals pull out". Financial Times.
    2. "Brand Hub | SHARE NOW". brandhub.share-now.com. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
    3. Michael Sheetz. "Now New Yorkers can get a new Mercedes-Benz for 47 cents (a minute)". CNBC. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
    4. Stephanie Steinberg and Bill Vlasic (25 January 2013). "Car-Sharing Services Grow, and Expand Options". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
    5. "Daimler's car2go: Rent a Smart anywhere, anytime". Autoblog.com. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
    6. Jeremy Korzeniewski (21 October 2008). "Daimler's car2go: Rent a Smart anywhere, anytime". Autoblog.
    7. Taylor Soper. "Car2go adds $1 'Driver Protection Fee' for each ride to offset lowered deductible - GeekWire". GeekWire.
    8. Griffin, Jon (23 May 2014). "Car2go scrapped a year after setting up in Birmingham". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
    9. Garrick, David (16 March 2016). "Car2Go switching electric cars to gas". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
    10. Garrick, David. "Car2go ceases San Diego operations". sandiegouniontribune.com. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
    11. "BMW and Daimler close to merging car-sharing units: executive". Reuters. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
    12. "Daimler Mobility Services purchases Europcar Group's 25% stake in car2go Europe GmbH". Daimler. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
    13. "Hundreds of thousands of Car2Go members to lose service as company pulls out of North America". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
    14. "Share Now, formerly Car2Go, is leaving North America". The Verge. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
    15. "In depth: Daimler's Car2Go program is simple, amazing, but not perfect". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
    16. "eSmart III Production Commences". Fleets and Fuels.com. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
    17. "Car2go suspends operation in Lyon, France because of name conflict with Car' Go". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
    18. "Reif für die Insel: car2go bringt smart(e) Mobilität nach London | Daimler Global Media Site > Mercedes-Benz Cars > smart > car2go". Media.daimler.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
    19. "Daimler's car2go car-sharing service will launch in UK this fall". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
    20. "Car2go car-sharing service to suspend South Bay operations".
    21. "car2go Bailing out of Eugene".
    22. "Car2go shutting down in Copenhagen".
    23. "Car2Go suspending business indefinitely in Miami, Miami Beach". miamiherald.
    24. "Stockholms parkeringselände sätter P - Car2go lämnar Sverige". Veckans affärer. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
    25. "car2go Twin Cities on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
    26. "car2go San Diego on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
    27. "Important Update". news.car2go.com. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
    28. "Daimler Gives Up on Car-Sharing in China - Caixin Global". www.caixinglobal.com. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
    29. Cole, Craig. "Car2Go-ing, going, gone! Service pulls out of five North American cities". Roadshow. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
    30. "Mobility for a reasonable price". car2go.com.
    31. "Hello Vancouver". car2go.com.
    32. "Hello Austin". car2go.com.
    33. "Four Door Vehicles". car2go.com.
    34. "How to find car2go's 25 new four-door Mercedes vehicles on the streets of Vancouver". straight.com. The Georgia Straight.
    35. "car2go Apps". car2go.com.
    36. "Just hop in". car2go.com.
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