Two leading German auto makers have joined forces to create the world’s largest carshare services company by combining Daimler’s Car2go and BMW’s DriveNow operations into the single SHARE NOW entity.
By merging the two existing services, SHARE NOW becomes the world’s leading provider of free-floating carshare services, offering a combined fleet of more than 20,000 BMW, Mercedes-Benz, smart and MINI vehicles, which are available in 30 cities across Europe and North America, shared by over four million members. Headquartered in the German capital of Berlin, SHARE NOW is one of five new mobility services to be created under the BMW and Daimler joint venture, with the other operations branded as: REACH NOW, CHARGE NOW, PARK NOW and FREE NOW. Olivier Reppert, former managing director of Daimler’s Car2go operations, will lead the new joint carsharing company.
SHARE NOW aims to provide a sustainable solution for urban travel and, as part of a range of mobility options, expects to significantly contribute to reducing vehicular congestion in cities. Each SHARE NOW vehicle replaces up to eight privately owned cars in urban traffic, and at the same time is used up to six times more frequently. Operating 3,200 electrically powered vehicles, SHARE NOW also becomes the largest provider of electromobile free-floating car sharing in the world, with four European cities operating with 100% fully electric fleets and 13 additional cities operating with partial electric fleets. The vehicles in the electric fleet have covered over 74.5 million miles (120 million kilometers) globally to date.
Together with the four other mobility companies, SHARE NOW will operate independently within the joint venture. From registration through the rental process, all steps are performed digitally via each existing brand’s dedicated smartphone app. In the long term, the goal is to establish fully integrated service in a single free-floating carshare app worldwide. In the months to come, vehicles will initially bear both brand names. After this transition period, new branding will be introduced for all vehicles.
“SHARE NOW has a clear vision: to create sustainable mobility for and with cities, with far less traffic and reduced emissions,” said Reppert. “One carshare vehicle already replaces as many as eight privately owned cars. Our service improves quality of life in cities because we offer a cost-efficient and flexible alternative to owning a car. And we’re still only at the beginning. With the joint expertise and resources of two powerful carsharing services, SHARE NOW will continue to grow in the future and convince even more people to opt-in for our flexible mobility service. In Germany, members will now find more than 7,000 BMW, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, and smart models in both the Car2go and the DriveNow apps. This enables improved availability of vehicles at a glance, as well as a larger selection of vehicle models at more locations.”
