BMW has unleashed 100 i3 EVs on the streets of Berlin, Hamburg and Munich as part of its DriveNow car sharing scheme. In London, the BMW i3 has already been added to the DriveNow fleet in May, and will soon be seen in other cities in Germany and Europe.
Over the last four years, DriveNow has added more than 470,000 customers around the world, including 430,000 in Germany (120,000 in Berlin). Since 2013, DriveNow has been running 60 all-electric BMW ActiveE cars in Munich and Berlin as part of the WiMobil and ePlan research projects. They will now be replaced by 40 BMW i3 cars in Berlin, 30 in Hamburg and 30 in Munich.
“Our customers have enjoyed using the BMW ActiveE cars as much as the conventional vehicles in our fleet. This initiative has enabled us to put around 3,000 people per month behind the wheel of an all-electric vehicle for the first time – and, in so doing, spark their enthusiasm for electric mobility,” said Nico Gabriel, managing director of DriveNow.
BMW Group believes electric car sharing plays in an important role in driving forward electric mobility as a whole in Germany. That’s because vehicles that are part of electric car sharing schemes boost the use of charging points in cities and they do it on a more predictable basis.
According to BMW, this makes electric mobility visible and more easily accessible to local people, turning it into an everyday reality and as a result breaking down barriers and easing the pathway into electric mobility.
By 2020, BMW aims to be the leading supplier of premium products and premium services for personal mobility worldwide. Alongside DriveNow, the automaker has developed other services such as ParkNow and ChargeNow.
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