Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Car rental |
Predecessors |
|
Founded | 2019 |
Headquarters | , Germany |
Number of locations | 16 |
Services | Carsharing |
Owner | Stellantis |
Parent | Free2Move |
Website | share-now.com |
Share Now GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it is a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe, and formerly in North America. It has 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.
Daimler introduced the service in Ulm, Germany, in October 2008, [5] where it was developed by one of its internal business innovation units and was first tested exclusively by Daimler employees. [6]
Starting in May 2015, car2go added a $1 'Driver Protection Fee' for each ride to offset the lowered deductible. [7]
Since inception, car2go withdrew from several locations, including Britain, where it closed its service in London and Birmingham after only a year of operation. [8] 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. [9] At the end of 2016 car2go left the San Diego market. [10]
In January 2018, Daimler and BMW appeared to prepare the merger of their carsharing subsidiaries to strengthen their market position. [11] 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. [12]
In late 2019, the company announced that it would close all North American operations (New York City NY, Seattle WA, 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. [13] [14]
On 3 May 2022, the acquisition of Share Now by the automobile manufacturer Stellantis was announced. [15] [16] The acquisition was closed on 18 July 2022 and Stellantis subsidiary Free2Move handles the Share Now ownership. [17]
The following table details all locations where ShareNow is active: [2]
indicates electric fleet
City | Country | Fleet | Start date |
---|---|---|---|
Amsterdam | Netherlands | 300 | Nov 2011 |
Berlin | Germany | 1,800 | April 2012 |
Copenhagen | Denmark | 500 | Sep 2015 |
Düsseldorf/Cologne | Germany | 1,100 | Jan 2012 |
Frankfurt | Germany | 300 | Sep 2014 |
Hamburg | Germany | 1,100 | April 2011 |
Madrid | Spain | 600 | Nov 2015 |
Milan | Italy | 1,400 | Aug 2013 |
Munich | Germany | 1,000 | June 2013 |
Münster | Germany | ||
Paris | 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 |
The following table details all locations where Share Now is no longer active as of July 2019 [update] :
City/ Municipality | Country | Start date | End date | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ulm | Germany | October 2008 | December 2014 | [18] [19] |
Lyon | France | February 2012 | June 2012 | [20] |
London | United Kingdom | December 2012 | May 2014 | [21] |
Birmingham | United Kingdom | May 2013 | May 2014 | [22] |
South Bay, Los Angeles | United States | June 2014 | June 2015 | [23] |
Eugene, Oregon | United States | October 2014 | June 2015 | [24] |
Copenhagen | Denmark | September 2014 | January 2016 | [25] |
Miami | United States | July 2012 | February 2016 | [26] |
Stockholm | Sweden | November 2014 | September 2016 | [27] |
Minneapolis-Saint Paul | United States | September 2013 | December 2016 | [28] |
San Diego | United States | November 2011 | December 2016 | [29] |
Toronto | Canada | June 2012 | June 2018 | [30] |
Columbus | United States | October 2013 | June 2018 | |
Chongqing | China | April 2016 | June 2019 | [31] |
Austin | United States | May 2010 | October 2019 | [32] |
Calgary | Canada | July 2012 | October 2019 | [32] |
Denver | United States | June 2013 | October 2019 | [32] |
Portland, Oregon | United States | Mar 2012 | October 2019 | [32] |
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 | [33] |
Lisbon | Portugal | Sep 2017 | March 2020 | [33] |
Budapest | Hungary | April 2019 | October 2023 |
The following models are active in the ShareNow fleet. [34] The selection of available vehicles varies depending on the location.
The Share Now 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 (in authorized areas), and maintenance, a low fixed annual fee is sometimes also charged. In most markets, Share Now 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.
In most cities, Share Now 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.[ citation needed ] Electric Share Now models are currently available in several markets, have a range of 84 miles (135 km), and need to be recharged every two or three days.
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 (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.
Mercedes-Benz Group AG is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-Benz was formed with the merger of Benz & Cie., the world's oldest car company, and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in 1926. The company was renamed DaimlerChrysler upon the acquisition of the American automobile manufacturer, Chrysler Corporation in 1998, it was renamed to Daimler upon the divestment of Chrysler in 2007. In 2021, Daimler was the second-largest German automaker and the sixth-largest worldwide by production. In February 2022, Daimler was renamed Mercedes-Benz Group as part of a transaction that spun-off its commercial vehicle segment as an independent company, Daimler Truck.
Brabus GmbH is a German high-performance automotive aftermarket tuning company founded in 1977 in Bottrop. Brabus specialises mainly in Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and Smart vehicles. They have also modified other vehicles including Porsche.
Carsharing or car sharing or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often private individuals themselves, and the car sharing facilitator is generally distinct from the car owner. Car sharing is part of a larger trend of shared mobility.
The International Motor Show Germany or International Mobility Show Germany, in German known as the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, is one of the world's largest mobility trade fairs. It consists of two separate fairs, that subdivided in 1991. While the IAA Mobility displays passenger vehicles, motorcycles and bikes, the IAA Transportation specializes in commercial vehicles. Before the separation, the show was held solely at the Messe Frankfurt.
The F-Cell is a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle developed by Daimler AG. Two different versions are known - the previous version was based on the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, and the new model is based on the Mercedes-Benz B-Class. The first generation F-Cell was introduced in 2002, and had a range of 100 mi (161 km), with a top speed of 82 mph (132 km/h). The current B-Class F-CELL has a more powerful electric motor rated at 100 kW (134 hp), and a range of about 250 mi (402 km). This improvement in range is due in part to the B-Class's greater space for holding tanks of compressed hydrogen, higher storage pressure, as well as fuel cell technology advances. Both cars have made use of a "sandwich" design concept, aimed at maximizing room for both passengers and the propulsion components. The fuel cell is a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), designed by the Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (AFCC) Corporation.
The Smart Fortwo is a two-seater city car manufactured and marketed by the Smart division of the Mercedes-Benz Group for model years 1998-2024, across three generations — each using a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout and a one-box design.
The Smart Forfour is a city car (A-segment) marketed by Smart over two generations. The first generation was marketed in Europe from 2004 to 2006 with a front-engine configuration, sharing its platform with the Mitsubishi Colt. The second generation was marketed in Europe from 2014 after an eight-year hiatus, using rear-engine or rear electric motor configurations. It is based on the third-generation Renault Twingo, which also forms a basis for the third-generation Smart Fortwo. A battery electric version was marketed as the EQ Forfour beginning in 2018.
Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to:
Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG is the global financial and mobility services provider of the Mercedes-Benz Group. The company finances, leases and insures Daimler Group passenger cars and commercial vehicles, optimizes fleets of commercial customers and offers banking and credit/debit cards services in more than 40 countries.
Mercedes-Benz, commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG is based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Mercedes-Benz AG manufactures luxury vehicles and light commercial vehicles, all branded under the Mercedes-Benz name. From November 2019 onwards, the production of Mercedes-Benz-branded heavy commercial vehicles has been managed by Daimler Truck, which separated from the Mercedes-Benz Group to form an independent entity at the end of 2021.
The Smart EQ Fortwo, formerly Smart Fortwo electric drive, smart ed or Smart Fortwo EV, is a battery electric vehicle variant of the Smart Fortwo city car made by Smart. Since 2020, Smart is only selling battery EVs.
Smart is a German automotive marque established in 1994. Smart Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Mercedes-Benz AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2019 and aimed at producing Smart-badged cars in China to be marketed globally. The venture is headquartered in Ningbo. Originally, the marque was known for producing microcars and subcompacts, primarily the Fortwo and Forfour, at Smartville in Hambach, Moselle, France and additionally at Renault's Revoz plant. It now produces small battery electric vehicles at a manufacturing plant in China, with distribution, marketing and aftersales activities in Europe handled by Smart Europe GmbH, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in Germany is actively supported by the German Federal Government. Under its National Platform for Electric Mobility, Chancellor Angela Merkel set an initial goal in 2010 to deploy one million electric vehicles on German roads by 2020, which was achieved with a six months delay in July 2021. Initially, the government did not provide subsidies to promote sales of plug-in electric vehicles, however, by the end of 2014 it was recognized that the country was well behind the set sales targets. A purchase bonus scheme was approved in 2016, but premium cars were not eligible to the incentive. In order to meet the climate targets for the transport sector, in 2016 the government set the goal to have from 7 to 10 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2030, and 1 million charging points deployed by 2030.
DriveNow was a one-way carsharing service wholly owned by the automotive manufacturer BMW. In 2019, DriveNow and car2go, a carsharing service from Daimler AG, merged to form the global mobility provider Share Now, with a combined fleet of 20,000 vehicles in 31 cities in 14 countries and over four million members worldwide. Share Now is one of the five mobility services which are part of the mobility joint venture of the BMW Group and the Daimler AG.
Annette Winkler is a German business executive who was the CEO and director of Smart Automobile, the division of Daimler AG noted for manufacturing and marketing the two-passenger Smart Fortwo and four-passenger Smart Forfour city cars, from 2011 to 2018.
ReachNow was a carsharing service operated by BMW Group in Seattle, Portland, and Brooklyn. It launched in 2016 and it shut down its services in Seattle and Portland on July 17, 2019. It used a mobile app for car reservations and operated a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles. It was one of three car-sharing services in the city of Seattle, competing with car2go and Zipcar. ReachNow was similar to another BMW Group service DriveNow, but was focused on North American cities starting with Seattle. Unlike DriveNow which is a joint-venture with Sixt, ReachNow is a fully owned BMW subsidiary, with RideCell rather than Sixt, providing the technology platform.
Mercedes-EQ is a series of battery electric vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz. The first model was previewed at the Paris Motor Show in 2016 with the Generation EQ concept vehicle. Mercedes-Benz intends to produce ten EQ models by 2022, three of which will have the Smart brand, representing between 15% and 25% of the company's global sales. All of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle design and production efforts will target the EQ family.
One-way carsharing is a type of carsharing that enables users to begin and end their trip at different locations. The pick-up and drop-off locations can be either restricted to traditional rental stations, or can be anywhere within an operational area in what is called free-floating carsharing.
Stellantis N.V. is a multinational automotive manufacturing company formed from the merger in 2021 of the Italian–American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group. The company headquarters are located in Hoofddorp, Netherlands.