Share Now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Car2go)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Share Now GmbH
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryCar rental
Predecessors
Founded2019; 7 years ago (2019)
Defunct2024; 2 years ago (2024)
Headquarters
Berlin
,
Germany
Number of locations
16
ServicesCarsharing
OwnerStellantis
ParentFree2Move

Share Now GmbH was a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. From 2022, it was a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe, and formerly in North America. It had over four million registered members and a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles in 18 cities across Europe.[1][2]

The company offered only Smart, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mini, Fiat and Citroën vehicles during the period when it was jointly owned by BMW and Mercedes-Benz and arranged one-way point-to-point rentals.[3] Users were charged by the minute, or by hourly and daily rates.[4] A smartphone app was used to enable hirers to access the vehicle.

Stellantis acquired ShareNow in July 2022 via its Free2Move subsidiary. The company is gradually integrated until April 2024 into Free2Move.[5][6]

History

[edit | edit source]

Daimler introduced the service in Ulm, Germany, in October 2008,[7] where it was developed by one of its internal business innovation units and was first tested exclusively by Daimler employees.[8]

Starting in May 2015, car2go added a $1 'Driver Protection Fee' for each ride to offset the lowered deductible.[9]

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.[10] 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.[11] At the end of 2016 car2go left the San Diego market.[12]

In January 2018, Daimler and BMW appeared to prepare the merger of their carsharing subsidiaries to strengthen their market position.[13] 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.[14]

Downsizing

[edit | edit source]

In late 2019, the company announced that it would close all North American operations (New York City NY, Seattle WA, Denver CO, 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.[15][16]

Acquired by Stellantis

[edit | edit source]

On 3 May 2022, the acquisition of Share Now by the automobile manufacturer Stellantis was announced.[17][18] The acquisition was closed on 18 July 2022 and Stellantis subsidiary Free2Move handles the Share Now ownership.[19]

Locations

[edit | edit source]

Current

[edit | edit source]

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

File:Bolt font awesome.svgindicates electric fleet

City Country Fleet Start date
Amsterdam File:Bolt font awesome.svg Netherlands 300 Nov 2011
Berlin Germany 1,800 April 2012
Copenhagen File:Bolt font awesome.svg Denmark 500 Sep 2015
Düsseldorf/Cologne Germany 1,100 Jan 2012
Frankfurt Germany 300 Sep 2014
Hamburg File:Bolt font awesome.svg Germany 1,100 April 2011
Madrid File:Bolt font awesome.svg Spain 600 Nov 2015
Milan Italy 1,400 Aug 2013
Munich File:Bolt font awesome.svg Germany 1,000 June 2013
Münster File:Bolt font awesome.svg Germany
Paris File:Bolt font awesome.svg France 700 Jan 2019
Rome Italy 600 Mar 2014
Stuttgart Germany 350 Nov 2012
Turin Italy 350 Mar 2015
Vienna Austria 1,000 Dec 2011

Former

[edit | edit source]

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

City/
Municipality		 Country Start date End date Reference
Ulm Germany October 2008 December 2014 [20][21]
Lyon France February 2012 June 2012 [22]
London United Kingdom December 2012 May 2014 [23]
Birmingham United Kingdom May 2013 May 2014 [24]
South Bay, Los Angeles United States June 2014 June 2015 [25]
Eugene, Oregon United States October 2014 June 2015 [26]
Copenhagen Denmark September 2014 January 2016 [27]
Miami United States July 2012 February 2016 [28]
Stockholm Sweden November 2014 September 2016 [29]
Minneapolis-Saint Paul United States September 2013 December 2016 [30]
San Diego United States November 2011 December 2016 [31]
Toronto Canada June 2012 June 2018 [32]
Columbus United States October 2013 June 2018
Chongqing China April 2016 June 2019 [33]
Austin United States May 2010 October 2019 [34]
Calgary Canada July 2012 October 2019 [34]
Denver United States June 2013 October 2019 [34]
Portland, Oregon United States Mar 2012 October 2019 [34]
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 [35]
Lisbon Portugal Sep 2017 March 2020 [35]
Budapest Hungary April 2019 October 2023

Fleet

[edit | edit source]

The following models are active in the ShareNow fleet.[36] The selection of available vehicles varies depending on the location.

Business model

[edit | edit source]
File:Car2Go 04 2012 DC 3759.JPG
car2go member card reader that allows access to the vehicle

The Share Now business model was 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 (in authorized areas), and maintenance, a low fixed annual fee is sometimes also charged. In most markets, Share Now vehicles can be parked in either specially designated parking spots, or in standard parking areas, with a special permit from the local municipality. Users had the option of refueling cars with a supplied charge card, customers receive bonus minutes for performing this service.

Vehicles

[edit | edit source]
File:Car2Go Amsterdam Smart ED cropped.JPG
Two car2go Smart electric drive cars charging at the Herengracht in Amsterdam

In most cities, Share Now offered 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 Share Now models were currently available in several markets, had a range of 84 miles (135 km), and needed to be recharged every two or three days.

Apps

[edit | edit source]

First-party and third-party apps for mobile devices allowed 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.

See also

[edit | edit source]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  4. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  9. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  10. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  12. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  13. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  14. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  15. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  16. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  17. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  18. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  19. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  20. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  21. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  22. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  23. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  24. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  25. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  26. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  27. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  28. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  29. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  30. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  31. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  32. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  33. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  34. ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  35. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  36. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  37. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  38. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
[edit | edit source]
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]].
Retrieved from "http://70.231.62.181/index.php?title=Share_Now&oldid=8242912"