Daimler’s carsharing company car2go says it now has 300,000 customers at three purely electric locations who regularly drive 1,400 electric vehicles – adding that its customers have already driven a total of 57.3 million purely electric kilometers.
“We are convinced that the future of carsharing is electric,” says Olivier Reppert, CEO of car2go.
car2go says it has been investing in electromobility for six years and has obtained experience and knowledge of setting up and running pure electric fleets. According to the company, an electric vehicle is hired from car2go every 8.7 seconds.
In Stuttgart, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Madrid, Spain, the company offers cars with electric drive exclusively. In Hamburg, Germany, car2go is holding 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.
“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,” says Reppert. “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.”
Stuttgart boasts a total of 380 rapid charging stations, while Amsterdam has over 1,000. 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.