Over 300,000 new customers, new car models – and even a new city: Since the start of the year, the signs all firmly indicate continual growth for car2go. The latest proof is the opening of the service’s newest US location in Chicago on July 25th.
car2go CEO Olivier Reppert: “Carsharing is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. Six months into 2018, all our figures clearly show that this year will be the most successful year in the history of car2go. The cultural trend towards a sharing economy continues to pick up speed.”
The number of car2go customers has increased by ten percent in the first six months of 2018 to a global total of 3.3 million customers, an increase of 25 percent year-over-year. During the first six months of the year, the 14,000 car2go vehicles were driven a total distance of over 90 million kilometers worldwide, with around ten percent of this total being driven with the 1,400 electric cars.
New location Chicago
On July 25th car2go opened its tenth North American location in Chicago and is now offering a fleet of 400 vehicles there, including smart fortwo and Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA vehicles. Chicago is the third largest city in the USA and due to its very high population density and well-developed local public transport system; it offers perfect conditions for the success of the free-floating carsharing concept.
Including the newest location in Chicago, car2go is now operating in 25 cities on three continents and continues to strengthen its market leadership in the free-floating carsharing sector. Currently, car2go is also in talks with several large cities in different countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDLVmo3-5xs
New cars, new fleet mix
“I am convinced that the future of carsharing is electric”, stresses Reppert. That car2go is actively promoting electric mobility can be seen in the development of its fleets worldwide. The first of the latest generation of electric smart two-seaters were introduced into the Stuttgart car2go fleet in mid-June. Thus, Stuttgart is the first car2go location worldwide with the latest smart fully electric 453 series, which successively replaces the previous generation.
In Montreal, 20 electric smart cars have also been available in the car2go fleet since June 2018 as part of a pilot project. And in Hamburg, there is an agreement in place with the city that the car2go fleet will be successively electrified by the end of 2019. car2go is already carrying out discussions with other cities in Europe. A prerequisite for electrification of any carsharing fleet is a well-developed charging infrastructure.
For the first time, car2go has introduced convertibles this summer. In Rome, car2go customers can rent the 20 new additions to the fleet since June 2018, to enjoy, for example, trips to the beach.
New customers, new offers
“Mobility is now a basic daily requirement for almost everyone. car2go plays a very important role for inhabitants who wish to move about flexibly within their city. Over three million customers speak for themselves”, says Olivier Reppert, “and thousands of new customers who want to live the sharing principle and be ambassadors for sustainable urban mobility register each day.”
The car2go locations with the most customers are the cities of Berlin with 258,000 customers, Chongqing with 255,000 and Hamburg with 212,000 customers. The strongest growth rates have been seen in Berlin (plus 21,000), New York (plus 20,000) and Vancouver and Chongqing each with 18,000 new customers since January 2018.
