“We are convinced that the future of carsharing is electric”, says Olivier Reppert, CEO of car2go.
Market leader in the flexible carsharing industry car2go now has 300,000 customers at three purely electric locations who regularly drive 1,400 electric vehicles. Around 10,000 journeys are made per day.
car2go customers have already driven a total of 57.3 million purely electric kilometers. That is equivalent to 1,429 trips around the earth or as many tons of CO2 that 12.3 million oak trees or 24,000 hectares of spruce forest could absorb in a year.
car2go has been investing in electromobility for six years and has obtained experience and knowledge of setting up and running pure electric fleets. In Stuttgart, Amsterdam and Madrid, the company offers exclusively cars with electric drive, making it the world’s largest electric free-floating carsharing service. And car2go is still powering ahead with electric energy: In Hamburg, car2go is holding close talks with the city to discuss successively electrifying the carsharing fleet as of next year and replacing the combustion engine in 400 smart vehicles with smart electric drive. In Stuttgart, 50 electric Mercedes-Benz-Classes were recently added to the fleet. The electric vehicles will be equipped with new hardware at all locations – this makes the rental process via smartphone even faster and easier.
Providers of purely electric carsharing fleets such as car2go are important partners for cities in the promotion of electromobility. Thanks to their knowledge about the mobility requirements of the urban population, they can offer an advisory function and provide their experience so that charging stations are set up in the ideal locations.
“We’re pushing electromobility forward – but that only works if there’s a well-developed charging infrastructure in the cities. If there isn’t, long charging and idle times will stand in the way of a free-floating carsharing principle like car2go. In order to offer customers a real alternative for their everyday mobility, carsharing vehicles need to be constantly on the move and available throughout the city”, explains Olivier Reppert. Stuttgart boasts a total of 380 rapid charging stations, which is one of the best networks in Germany – while Amsterdam has over 1,000, the best charging infrastructure in the world. In Madrid, car2go has built a special hub system with its own rapid charging stations so that the electric cars are available as often as possible.
This is essential for convincing as many people as possible to use electromobility. car2go already offers millions of city residents the first, easy contact with electric cars. People who would otherwise never have the opportunity to drive an electric car can now test out this environmentally friendly method of transport. An electric vehicle is hired from car2go every 8.7 seconds.
Stuttgart car2go customer Denise Pinke is especially impressed by the feeling she gets when driving them: “What’s really great is how the electric smart drives. It’s just so much fun and the same goes for the new electric B-Class.” Since the beginning of 2009, car2go is part of the daily mobility routine of 2.6 million customers who use the cars of the market leader in flexible carsharing as part of the mobility mix in their city and thus contribute to a reduction in traffic and air pollution. car2go is convinced that these positive effects can be significantly enhanced through electric mobility.
