car2go North America LLC announced successful operations for its first 100 days in San Diego, CA.
Since the launch of car2go in San Diego on Nov. 18, 2011, more than 6,000 people have registered as members of North America’s first all-electric carsharing program, and more than 25,000 trips have been taken in the smart fortwo electric drive car2go vehicles.
Prior to the launch of car2go in Nov. 2011, there were reportedly 800 electric vehicles in San Diego. With the introduction of car2go, an additional 300 smart fortwo electric drive cars have been brought to San Diego, increasing the City’s total number of EVs by nearly 40 percent. Since the introduction of car2go, the EV community in San Diego has grown exponentially to nearly 7,000 EV users, making San Diego one of the top cities in the world for electric vehicle drivers.
Today, the 300 car2go vehicles are collectively used among more than 6,000 members of the car2go carsharing program in San Diego, and that number continues to grow each day.
car2go launched in San Diego with approximately 500 rentals per week. Today the average number of car2go trips per week has increased to more than 3,500. The average trip lasts between 15 and 30 minutes, and the average distance driven in a car2go is between 5 and 10 miles.
car2go members can easily locate a car on the street anywhere within the car2go Home Area, via a smartphone app, via the car2go vehicle finder on the car2go website, by calling the customer call center, or simply by finding an available car on the street. Unlike traditional carsharing, members can begin their trip spontaneously or reserve a vehicle up to 24 hours in advance without committing to a mandatory return time or specific location. Members can use the cars for as long as they would like and pay only for the time they use the vehicle. Parking, insurance, re-charging and maintenance are included at no additional cost, and there are no annual fees.
