how it all started

The history of Car2go

Based on the vehicles use, Car2go looks like a program run by Smart, but it's not. Car2go is actually a subsidiary of Daimler North America, and as such is able to get some benefits that competitors like Zipcar don't have. More on that in a minute.

Car2go started in Ulm, Germany in 2008. Today, Car2go operates in two cities in Germany, Ulm andHamburg, and Austin. There are also tests going on in Vancouver, Canada, which certainly hints at something, doesn't it? Car2go CEO Nicholas Cole told us in Austin that, by this time next year, he hopes to have Car2go operating in two or three other cities in the U.S., with further expansions coming "exponentially" after that.

For now, though, the focus is on Austin. The program started there in November 2009, and was originally for city employees only. In May 2010, it opened to the general public and 15,000 new members joined in the first seven months of the public phase (the number is much higher now). For a long while, there were 200 vehicles in town, but a recent expansion brought in 300 new vehicles, just as the town was inundated by the SXSW hordes. The 200 original vehicles were taken away and are being retrofitted with the improved telematics system that's in the new models and will be re-used in the expansion cities, said Paul Delong, Car2go's director of sales and marketing. How's that for sustainability?

Speaking of which, we've heard since 2008 that Car2go might go electric. In 2011, the status hasn't changed. Delong told us that, "infrastructure is going to dictate how fast we can introduce electric vehicles, but we have to do this." In other words, hold tight.

The number of vehicles the new Car2go cities will get depends on four factors: the number of parking spaces available, current car ownership rates, how diverse the neighborhoods are and the population density. It's not a perfectly transferable number, but in Austin's 52 square miles there are 105,000 target drivers and just 300 cars. Cole told us that he doesn't see a lot of vehicle reservations in Austin, which is a good sign that there are enough Fortwos around for the 15,000-plus members.

Austin is a good fit for Car2go. You have progressive citizens and lawmakers there, as well as a large population of potential drivers at the University of Texas at Austin. Delong said the most surprising demographic group of drivers was the retirees and empty nesters who live in or near downtown.

The city, too, has been a good partner, right from the start when only city employees could use the vehicles. Today, the special status continues through a deal where city employees get to use the cars and no one driving a Car2go vehicle needs to pay for city parking (these sorts of deals will most likely also be true in whatever cities Car2go expands to). There are also some special private deals that have been worked out, like at the Whole Foods flagship store.

Here's another reason sunny Austin is a good test bed. All of the 300 new cars have solar roofs that keep the always-on GPS powered up and cool the cabin to match the ambient temperature so you're not blasted with a wave of heat when you open the door. Smart fans will note that no other Fortwo model has this kind of roof, which was created after driver feedback reported issues with the heat and dead batteries. Another innovation pioneered in the Car2go Fortwo is the touchscreen radio and navigation screen. No otherMercedes-Benz vehicle has a touchscreen right now, but the new S-Class models will in the near future. Through Car2go, Daimler is able to get new technologies into real-world test situations and get feedback from a lot of different users in almost no time.

source: http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/24/daimler-car2go-program-carsharing-smart-fortwo/#continued