DriveNow

DriveNow was a one-way carsharing service wholly owned by the automotive manufacturer BMW.[1] In 2019, DriveNow and car2go, a carsharing service from Daimler AG, merged to form the global mobility provider ShareNow,[2] with a combined fleet of 20,000 vehicles in 31 cities in 14 countries and over four million members worldwide.[3][4] Share Now is one of the five mobility services which are part of the mobility joint venture of the BMW Group and the Daimler AG.[5]

Not to be confused with ReachNow, another BMW carsharing service.

DriveNow
Private (GmbH & Co. KG)
IndustryCar rental
FateMerged
Founded2011 (2011)
Defunct2019
Headquarters
Munich
,
Germany
Number of locations
See Cities
ServicesCarsharing Car Club
ParentBMW
WebsiteDrive-Now.com

DriveNow service began in Munich, Germany in June 2011.[6] As of October 2017, DriveNow operated over 6,000 vehicles in nine European countries.[7] Apart from five cities in Germany - Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Düsseldorf, and Cologne - DriveNow is available in Vienna, Copenhagen, Brussels, Milan, Helsinki and Lisbon.[8] In October 2017, the company reached the milestone of one million customers.[9]

DriveNow operates a fleet comprising only vehicles manufactured by subsidiaries of BMW Group including various MINI models (3 and 5 door, Convertible, Clubman, Countryman) as well as BMW X1, X2, i3, 1 series, and 2 series.[10]

Created as a joint venture between BMW Group and the car rental company Sixt SE holding 50% of shares each, DriveNow became a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW in March 2018. On 29 January 2018, BMW announced that Sixt SE had agreed to sell its 50% stake for c. €209 million.[11] In April 2018, BMW Group and Daimler AG agreed to combine their mobility services, including their car sharing devices DriveNow and car2go, to shape sustainable urban mobility for the future.[12]

In December 2019, DriveNow announced that it would be ceasing operations in North America by the end of February 2020. [13]

A similar BMW service, ReachNow which is offered in North American cities, was established in April 2016 in Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon and Brooklyn, New York. In December 2017, ReachNow had over 50,000 members.[14] In contrast to DriveNow, ReachNow's technology platform is provided by RideCell rather than Sixt.[15]

Operation

Cities

The following table details all cities where DriveNow operates:

CityCountryVehiclesTypeStart date End dateRef.
MunichGermany750Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricJune 2011 [16]
BerlinGermany1400Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricSeptember 2011 [17]
HamburgGermany620Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricOctober 2013 [18]
DüsseldorfGermany310Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricJanuary 2012 [19]
CologneGermany310Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricSeptember 2012 [20]
ViennaAustria720Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricOctober 2014 [21]
LondonUnited Kingdom720Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricDecember 2014 29 February 2020[22][23]
CopenhagenDenmark550Gasoline, ElectricSeptember 2015 [24]
StockholmSweden400Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricOctober 2015 31 October 2018[25][26]
Brussels Belgium 310 Gasoline, Electric July 2016 29 February 2020 [27]
MilanItaly500Gasoline, ElectricOctober 2016 [28]
Helsinki Finland 150 Gasoline, Electric May 2017 29 February 2020 [29]
Lisbon Portugal 210 Gasoline, Diesel, Electric September 2017 3 March 2020 [30]
BudapestHungary250Gasoline, Diesel, ElectricMay 2019 [31]

One-way car sharing model
Several BMW ActiveE in service for DriveNow charging at Googleplex in Mountain View, California.

In contrast to classic car rental, where a vehicle is rented at a designated location and typically returned after one or more days, one-way carsharing models allows the use of freely parked vehicles in the city area, or business area. Vehicles can be found and rented through an app on the phone. Driving charge is by a minute rate that ranges between €0.24 to €0.57 per minute depending on the vehicle and business area.[29] The price includes fuel, parking, and insurance.[32] DriveNow also offers packages to make the per minute rate cheaper. Vehicles can be parked back anywhere in the business area of the city.[33] Typically, the car must be parked in the same city as it was rented. The exception is in Düsseldorf and Cologne.[34]

App

An app for mobile devices allow users to locate and reserve vehicles. 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. Cars can also be opened and closed through the app.[35]

Vehicles
DriveNow Car Sharing Mini Cooper

DriveNow operates a variety of gasoline-powered and diesel BMW 1 Series, BMW 2 Series, BMW X2 series, BMW X1, Mini Countryman, Mini Clubman, Mini Convertible and Mini Cooper vehicles as well the electric-powered BMW i3 and BMW ActiveE.[36] In the San Francisco Bay Area, DriveNow deployed a fleet of 70 BMW ActiveE electric cars by July 2015.[37]

Electric driving

DriveNow Electric Driving with BMW i3 DriveNow offers the largest electric car sharing fleet in the world, using BMW i3, BMW i3 Rex, and BMW Active E. Since 15 July 2015, a total of 724 full-electric BMW i3s have been in regular operation in the fleets of Berlin (130 vehicles), Hamburg, Cologne / Düsseldorf [38] and Munich [39] . The BMW ActiveE in Berlin and Munich were thus replaced. In London, DriveNow has also been offering BMW i3 since May 2015 and can thus benefit from tax relief.[40] In Copenhagen, DriveNow launched a purely electric fleet of 400 vehicles in September 2015.[41]

References
  1. "DriveNow comes to Helsinki". CleanTechnica. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  2. "car2go and DriveNow join forces for new car-sharing firm". AirqualityNews.com. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  3. "SHARE NOW:Facts and figures". car2go. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  4. "car2go and DriveNow join forces: SHARE NOW to become the biggest free-floating carshare provider worldwide". Cision Newswire. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  5. "car2go and DriveNow join forces for new car-sharing firm". AirqualityNews.com. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  6. "What San Francisco taught BMW Group about car-sharing". Fortune. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  7. "car2go and DriveNow join forces for new car-sharing firm". AirqualityNews.com. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  8. "DriveNow to Launch Carsharing Service in Lisbon". Autorentalnews. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  9. "DriveNow reaches one million customers milestone". Fleetnews. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  10. "DriveNow Carsharing with BMW and MINI". DriveNow. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  11. "Sixt to sell its DriveNow stake to BMW". Reuters. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  12. "DriveNow and car2go combine to offer extended ride-sharing services". Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  13. "Share Now Is the Latest Car-Share Service to Fold". Wired.
  14. "About us". ReachNow. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  15. "BMW Restarts Car-Sharing in the U.S. With New Name and Tech". Fortune. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  16. "DriveNow Munich". DriveNow Website. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  17. "DriveNow Car Sharing in Berlin". DriveNow Website. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  18. "DriveNow Factsheet" (PDF). DriveNow Website. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  19. "DriveNow Dusseldorf". DriveNow Website. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  20. "DriveNow Factsheet". DriveNow Website. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  21. "DriveNow Launches in Vienna, Austria with Discount". Sixt Car Hire Blog. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  22. "BMW and Sixt join forces with DriveNow scheme to make city driving cheaper". Auto Express.
  23. "Important Message (London Discontinuation)". DriveNow Website (UK).
  24. "400 BMW i3s Headed For DriveNow Car Sharing Service in Copenhagen". InsideEVs. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  25. "DriveNow Car Sharing in Stockholm". DriveNow (in German). Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  26. "DriveNow Stockholm Shutting Down Operations Oct 31st". www.drive-now.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  27. "DriveNow Car Sharing in Brussels". DriveNow (in German). Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  28. "DriveNow Car Sharing in Milan". DriveNow (in German). Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  29. "DriveNow Car Sharing in Helsinki". Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  30. "DriveNow Carsharing to Launch in Lisbon". Automotive Fleet. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  31. "DriveNow Car Sharing Budapest". Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  32. "DriveNow UK How it works". DriveNow Website. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  33. "DriveNow UK Business Area". DriveNow Website. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  34. "DriveNow Car Sharing Affordable way to have a car in the city". DriveNow Website. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  35. https://www.drive-now.com/de/de/blog/16-03-2017/fastlane
  36. "DriveNow Vehicles". DriveNow. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  37. Jon Fingas (22 August 2013). "BMW DriveNow EV car sharing comes to San Francisco Bay Area, ParkNow follows suit". Engadged.com. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  38. DriveNow. "DriveNow Dusseldorf". DriveNow. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  39. "DriveNow Launches in Munich". Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  40. "DriveNow in London". Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  41. "DriveNow in Copenhagen". Retrieved 5 March 2017.
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