car2Go

car2go
Public (subsidiary)
Industry Car rental
Founded 2008 (2008)
Headquarters Ulm, Germany
Number of locations
 30
Services Carsharing
Parent Daimler AG
Website www.car2go.com

car2go is a subsidiary of Daimler AG providing carsharing services in European and North American cities. The company offers exclusively Smart Fortwo vehicles and features one-way point-to-point rentals. Users are charged by the minute, with hourly and daily rates available.[1] The service forgoes the typical centralized rental office, and cars are user-accessed wherever parked via a downloadable smartphone app. As of May 2015, car2go is the largest carsharing company in the world with over 1,000,000 members.[2]

History

Daimler introduced the service in Ulm, Germany, in October 2008,[3] where it was developed by one of its internal business innovation units and was first tested exclusively by Daimler employees.[4]

As of March 2015, Car2Go operates over 13,000 vehicles, which serve eight countries and 29 cities worldwide with over 1,000,000 customers.[5]

Starting in May 2015, Car2Go added a $1 'Driver Protection Fee' for each ride to offset the lowered deductible.[6]

Since inception, Car2Go also withdrew from several locations, including Britain, where it closed its service in London and Birmingham after only a year of operation.[7]

Locations

Current

The following table details all locations where Car2Go is active as of January 2016:

Car2Go member card reader that allows access to the vehicle
Car2Go cars in Austin, Texas
City/
Municipality 		Country Vehicles Type Start date Reference
Austin U.S. 300 Gasoline & Electric May 2010 [8]
Düsseldorf Germany 300 Gasoline February 2011 [9]
Hamburg Germany 700 Gasoline April 2011 [10]
Vancouver Canada 1,275 Gasoline & Electric June 2011 [11][12][13]
San Diego U.S. 400 Electric November 2011[14]
Amsterdam Netherlands 350 Electric November 2011 [15]
Vienna Austria 800 Gasoline December 2011 [16][17]
Madrid Spain 350 Electric November 2015 [18]
Washington, D.C. U.S. 500 Gasoline March 2012 [19][20]
Portland, Oregon U.S. 530 Gasoline & Electric March 2012 [21]
Berlin Germany 1,200 Gasoline & Electric April 2012 [22]
Toronto Canada 375 Gasoline June 2012 [23]
Calgary Canada 550 Gasoline July 2012 [24]
Cologne Germany 350 Gasoline September 2012 [25]
Stuttgart Germany 500 Electric November 2012 [26][27]
Seattle U.S. 750 Gasoline December 2012 [28][29]
Minneapolis–Saint Paul U.S. 535 Gasoline September 2013 [30][31]
Columbus U.S. 300 Gasoline October 2013 [32]
Denver U.S. 400 Gasoline June 2013 [33][34]
Munich Germany 300 Gasoline June 2013 [10]
Milan Italy 700 Gasoline August 2013 [35]
Montreal Canada 340 Gasoline November 2013 [36][37][38]
Rome Italy 600 Gasoline March 2014 [39][40]
Florence Italy 200 Gasoline May 2014 [41]
Frankfurt Germany 250 Gasoline September 2014
New York City U.S. 550 Gasoline October 2014 [42][43]
Stockholm Sweden 250 Gasoline November 2014
Turin Italy 450 Gasoline March 2015 [44]
Arlington, Virginia U.S. 200 Gasoline September 2015 [45]
Prato Italy 35 Gasoline November 2015 [46]

Former

The following table details all locations where Car2Go is no longer active as of January 2016:

City/
Municipality 		Country Start date End date Reference
Ulm Germany October 2008 December 2014 [47][48]
Lyon France February 2012 June 2012 [49]
London United Kingdom December 2012 May 2014 [50]
Birmingham United Kingdom May 2013 May 2014 [51]
South Bay, Los Angeles U.S. June 2014 June 2015[2]
Eugene, Oregon U.S. October 2014 June 2015[52]
Copenhagen Denmark September 2014 January 2016[53]
Miami U.S. July 2012 February 2016[54]

Business model

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.[55] The rates are all-inclusive and cover rental, gas, insurance, parking (in authorized areas), and maintenance. In Horseshoe Bay, Canada, a popular satellite parking location near Vancouver, BC, Canada, a fee of $10 is now charged for ending your trip there on Fridays and Saturdays. 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.[56]

Vehicles

Two car2Go Smart electric drive cars charging at the Herengracht in Amsterdam

In most cities, car2Go offers exclusively two-passenger vehicles. Their fleet operates 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.[57] In its Canadian markets, car2Go has a pilot program in place to supplement their fleet with a small number of four-door Mercedes B-class vehicles.[58][59]

Apps

First-party and third-party apps for mobile devices allow users to locate and reserve vehicles.[60] 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. Customers can choose to refuel a vehicle to gain free usage minutes.[61]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stephanie Steinberg and Bill Vlasic (2013-01-25). "Car-Sharing Services Grow, and Expand Options". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-01-26.
  2. 1 2 "Car2go car-sharing service to suspend South Bay operations".
  3. ↑ "Daimler's car2go: Rent a Smart anywhere, anytime". Autoblog.com. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  4. ↑ Jeremy Korzeniewski (2008-10-21). "Daimler's car2go: Rent a Smart anywhere, anytime". Autoblog.
  5. ↑ Nick Gibbs. "Car2Go poised to top 1-million users". Automotive News.
  6. ↑ Taylor Soper. "Car2go adds $1 'Driver Protection Fee' for each ride to offset lowered deductible - GeekWire". GeekWire.
  7. ↑ Griffin, Jon (23 May 2014). "Car2go scrapped a year after setting up in Birmingham". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "UPDATE: car2go car sharing program goes public in Austin, Texas". Gizmag.com. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  9. ↑ "smart News » Düsseldorf’s ready for car2go". News.thesmart.co.uk.s112875.gridserver.com. 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  10. 1 2 http://www.daimler.com/technology-and-innovation/mobility-concepts/car2go/[]
  11. ↑ "car2go Canada Ltd. | car2go Poised For Growth in Vancouver This Spring". Newswire.ca. 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  12. ↑ "December Newsletter: Vancouver". car2go. 2012-12-21.
  13. ↑ "Car2go cuts Richmond, North Vancouver coverage". 19 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Car-Sharing car2go Brings New Electric Fleet to San Diego". Times of San Diego.
  15. ↑ "Electromobility in the Netherlands – Highlights 2014" (PDF). Netherlands Enterprise Agency. April 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  16. ↑ "Car2Go starts in Vienna with contactless technology made in Austria. | NFC Development & Consulting". Nfc.cc. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  17. ↑ "Car sharing options growing fast in Vienna". 2014-07-11.
  18. ↑ "Madrid estrena su servicio de car-sharing eléctrico con 350 coches de car2go". elmundo.es. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  19. ↑ "Daimler's car2go car-sharing service starts in D.C., Portland this month". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  20. ↑ Clabaugh, Jeff (2015-08-20). "Car2Go comes to Arlington — with a catch". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  21. ↑ Lizzy Duffy. "First Car2Go Bike Rack Spotted In Portland". opb.org.
  22. ↑ "World's largest Car2Go fleet deployed in Berlin". Green.autoblog.com. 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  23. ↑ "Car2go launches short-term car rentals in Toronto, joining Zipcar, Autoshare, even taxis in moving market". thestar.com. 2012-06-13. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  24. ↑ "On The Road: No slowing down for car2go in Calgary". Calgaryherald.com. 2013-07-25. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  25. ↑ "car2go Expands to Cologne, Germany - Rental Operations". Auto Rental News. 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  26. ↑ "smart News » Stuttgart says ‘guten tag!’ to car2go". News.thesmart.co.uk.s112875.gridserver.com. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  27. ↑ "Stromautos auch bald im Strohgäu". stuttgarter-zeitung.de. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  28. ↑ "car2go Introduces a New Way of Carsharing in Seattle, Washington". Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  29. ↑ "car2go-seattle-expansion". Retrieved March 2015.
  30. ↑ http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/car2go-Introduces-Carsharing-in-Minneapolis-20130827/[]
  31. ↑ car2go N.A. LLC (8 January 2015). "car2go Kicks Off 2015 With A Bang With Over 20,000 car2go... -- TWIN CITIES, Minn., Jan. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --". prnewswire.com.
  32. ↑ "car2go Brings Point-to-Point Carsharing to Ohio". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2014-07-09.
  33. ↑ Danny King. "Car2go comes to Denver with 300 Smart Fortwo car share vehicles". Autoblog.
  34. ↑ "Hello Denver". Car2Go. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  35. ↑ "Milano, Car2go aumenta la flotta". Corriere della Sera. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  36. ↑ "Auto en libre service: car2go arrive à Montréal". Retrieved 2013-10-04.
  37. ↑ "Media Advisory - Launch of car2go in Montreal". 2013-10-04.
  38. ↑ "Montreal looks into setting up an electric-car sharing service". Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  39. ↑ http://www.motorionline.com/2014/02/18/car2go-a-roma-il-car-sharing-smart-nella-capitale-entro-la-prossima-pasqua. Retrieved 2014-02-20. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  40. ↑ "Car sharing - A Roma Il Car2go Si Espande - Quattroruote". Quattroruote.it.
  41. ↑ "Hello Austin". car2go.com.
  42. ↑ "Car2Go expands to Brooklyn". Washington Post.
  43. ↑ "Car2go could redefine the way New Yorkers get around town".
  44. ↑ "Car2go si prepara allo sbarco a Torino". La Gazzetta dello Sport - Tutto il rosa della vita.
  45. ↑ "Car2Go to Come to Arlington in September". ARLNow.com. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  46. ↑ "Il car sharing approda a Prato, ecco come funzionerà e quanto costa [notiziediprato.it]".
  47. ↑ "In depth: Daimler's Car2Go program is simple, amazing, but not perfect". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  48. ↑ "eSmart III Production Commences". Fleets and Fuels.com. 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  49. ↑ "Car2go suspends operation in Lyon, France because of name conflict with Car' Go". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  50. ↑ "Reif für die Insel: car2go bringt smart(e) Mobilität nach London | Daimler Global Media Site > Mercedes-Benz Cars > smart > car2go". Media.daimler.com. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  51. ↑ "Daimler's car2go car-sharing service will launch in UK this fall". Green.autoblog.com. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  52. ↑ "Not Found - Eugene, Oregon". The Register-Guard.
  53. ↑ "Car2go shutting down in Copenhagen".
  54. ↑ "Car2Go suspending business indefinitely in Miami, Miami Beach". miamiherald.
  55. ↑ "Mobility for a reasonable price". car2go.com.
  56. ↑ "Hello Vancouver". car2go.com.
  57. ↑ "Hello Austin". car2go.com.
  58. ↑ "Four Door Vehicles". car2go.com.
  59. ↑ "How to find car2go's 25 new four-door Mercedes vehicles on the streets of Vancouver". straight.com. The Georgia Straight.
  60. ↑ "car2go Apps". car2go.com.
  61. ↑ "Just hop in". car2go.com.

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