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. The company offers exclusively Smart, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Mini vehicles and features one-way point-to-point rentals. Users are charged by the minute, with hourly and daily rates available. Cars are user-accessed via a downloadable smartphone app wherever they are parked.
History
Daimler introduced the service in Ulm, Germany, in October 2008, where it was developed by one of its internal business innovation units and was first tested exclusively by Daimler employees.. 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.Since inception, car2go withdrew from several locations, including Britain, where it closed its service in London and Birmingham after only a year of operation. 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. At the end of 2016 car2go left the San Diego market. In January 2018 Daimler and BMW appeared to prepare the merger of their carsharing subsidiaries to strengthen their market position. 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.
Downsizing
In late 2019, the company announced that it would close all North American operations 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.
Locations
Current
The following table details all locations where ShareNow is active: indicates electric fleet
Former
The following table details all locations where car2go is no longer active as of 2019:
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. The rates are all-inclusive and cover rental, gas, insurance, parking, 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. Users have the option of refueling cars with a supplied charge card, customers receive bonus minutes for performing this service.
Vehicles
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, and need to be recharged every two or three days. 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. 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. When reserving a car online, the customers are able to see the car's fuel gauge or the battery's state of charge, so if the customer wants to go for an extended drive, they can find the right car for that trip.
