Thursday, June 14, 2012

car2go Continues Expansion in Canada and the USA

PRESS RELEASE

Daimler's car2go will launch in Toronto, Calgary and Miami this summer
Registration opens today, offering free membership and free driving time
New markets following recent expansion and growth worldwide


AUSTIN, Texas - car2go North America LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, announced today it will expand its carsharing operations in Canada and the United States this summer, making urban mobility more convenient, more flexible, and more widely available than ever before.

car2go will officially start operations in Toronto on June 30, in Calgary on July 21 and in Miami, Florida on July 28. Member registration for all three cities opens today at car2go.com, offering free membership and free driving time for a limited time.

"As car2go continues to grow and spread its carsharing business throughout North America and throughout the world, more people will have access to an entirely new form of automobility," said Bodo Uebber, member of the Board of Management at Daimler AG and chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler Financial Services, the division at Daimler responsible for car2go. "The success of car2go around the world to date shows that we are in a time that demands and calls for new mobility solutions in urban settings, and Daimler is at the forefront of this movement."

Developed four years ago at the Daimler Business Innovation Unit in Stuttgart, Germany, car2go currently provides more than 4,000 fuel-efficient smart fortwo vehicles (including 625 electric drive cars) to more than 100,000 members worldwide for shared use. Collectively car2go members have taken more than two million trips throughout 11 cities worldwide. The number of car2go cities, members, and trips has more than doubled within the past six months.

"We are proud to continue our expansion of car2go throughout Canada and the United States this summer," said Nicholas Cole, president and CEO of car2go North America. "Soon, the cities of Toronto, Calgary and Miami will have access to the unprecedented flexibility and convenience of the car2go way of carsharing."

"The people who live, work and visit these cities will join the ranks of more than 50,000 car2go members in North America who have access to our service every day," Cole went on to say. "car2go is not only becoming a recognizable part of each new city we enter, but we are also becoming a fundamental part of people's daily lives."

A Different Way to Carshare

Each car2go city in North America has a large network of 200 to 300 fuel-efficient smart fortwo cars that are available for members to use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As the world's first free-floating carsharing service, car2go provides a new way of carsharing that is unique, particularly in these three areas:

FREE FLOATING: Members can pick up and drop off any car2go anywhere within the car2go Home Area - they do not need to drive the car back to its original location or commit to a predetermined amount of time. They can simply drive the car for as long as they need it, park the car at their destination, and end the rental by swiping the card on the windshield reader. At this moment the car becomes available for the next member to use.

PAY BY THE MINUTE: Members pay by the minute for the actual time they use the car, with discounted rates for hourly and daily use. There is no minimum amount of time that a car can be used - whether they need a car for ten minutes or an entire day, members simply get in and drive, for as long as they want, without a mandatory return time or location. Parking fees, fuel, maintenance and insurance are included at no additional cost, and there are no annual or monthly fees.

ON DEMAND: Members can use the first available car2go they find, via a smart phone app, with the car2go vehicle finder at car2go.com, by calling the customer call center, or by simply locating an available car2go on the street. Members can also reserve a vehicle up to 24 hours in advance, although reservations are not required. Members have unrestricted and unlimited access to car2go vehicles 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Registration Begins Now

Member registration for all three cities opens today, June 13 at Toronto.car2go.com, Calgary.car2go.com and Miami.car2go.com. For a limited time, people can use a promotion code to receive 30 free minutes of driving time and have the one-time $35 membership fee waived: Codes are TDOT for Toronto, ONWARD for Calgary and HEAT for Miami.

Follow car2go on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook:

Toronto: @car2goToronto and facebook.com/car2go.Toronto
Calgary: @car2goCalgary and facebook.com/car2go.Calgary
Miami: @car2goMiami and facebook.com/car2go.Miami


Charging without searching: New car2go charging spots at Amsterdam Q-Park garages

Amsterdam, Jun 14, 2012

18 exclusive car2go charging points at Q-Park garages Mahler, Bijenkorf and De Kolk
Official car2go app to find and book vehicles now available in Dutch
Introduction of driving style analysis "EcoScore" to reduce power consumption


Amsterdam – car2go today announced that 18 new dedicated electric vehicle charging points are available in three Amsterdam Q-Park garages. After successfully launching car2go in November 2011, more than 7.000 members are using the service for their trips in the Amsterdam city center. To locate available vehicles, car2go provides all members with a free Dutch Smartphone application and is going to introduce its driving style analysis called "EcoScore" to reduce power consumption.

New parking spots at Q-Park garages

The 18 new car2go parking spots with electric vehicle charging poles at the popular Q-Park garages Mahler, Bijenkorf and De Kolk are exclusively available for car2go drivers from now. Members can find the parking spots following the signage at the entrance of the garages. Fees for parking at the garages and charging the car2go vehicle are included in the rental fee of 0,29 € per driving minute and 0,09 € per "stop over" minute. The new charging points will make it even easier for car2go users to access busy areas of the city to charge their car2go. Another advantage is that the existing charging infrastructure of 400 poles will be freed up. The additional charging points at Q-Park have been made possible thanks to a subsidy from the Municipality of Amsterdam. Parking at public charging points in Amsterdam is only permitted if the vehicle is connected to the charging point; this applies for all car2go and other electric vehicles.

Successful launch phase in Amsterdam

The Daimler subsidiary car2go successfully launched its first European all-electric carsharing network in Amsterdam in November 2011 with 300 smart fortwo electric drive. To date, more than 7.000 people have registered for the service renting the vehicles around 5,000 times a week with a strong upward trend.

"With our all-electric car2go fleet in Amsterdam, we have launched one of the biggest markets for electric vehicle sharing in Europe giving thousands of people the opportunity to drive electric cars," said Robert Henrich, CEO of car2go. "We are exited to see how easily and enthusiastically people are integrating electric mobility in their daily lives."

New car2go app now available in Dutch

Since the start of operations in Amsterdam in November 2011, customer feedback helped to improve the service and several technology features have been introduced to the members. In April, the first official car2go application named "car2go" was launched for iOS systems (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) and is available in Dutch amongst other languages. It can be downloaded for free at the app store and helps members find and book the closest available car2go vehicle in their city. An application for Android systems will be available in June.

EcoScore driving analysis to be introduced in summer

Furthermore, an innovative driving style analysis called EcoScore will be introduced in the course of this summer. The application can be seen on the touch screen inside of each car and provides drivers with information on the environmental compatibility of their driving style. The EcoScore app monitors acceleration, deceleration and cruising behaviors. Three trees on the display will either grow or shrink, whereby the bigger the trees, the higher the overall EcoScore. The index is used to calculate the effect of the driving style on power consumption and aims to support safer driving thanks to thoughtful driving. The first stage of the EcoScore program is purely for informational purposes, but it's also possible that drivers with a driving style that is particularly environmentally friendly could be rewarded in the future. Experience in other car2go cities showed that car2go drivers are enthusiastically monitoring their personal EcoScore whilst saving power and arriving safely at their destination.

More than 100.000 car2go members worldwide

car2go is the market leader for flexible short-term rentals and has already successfully launched in eleven cities in Europe, USA and Canada. More than 100,000 members have registered for the service worldwide. A total of more than 4,000 car2go vehicles (including 625 smart fortwo electric drive models) are currently on the road and have been rented more than two million times. Amsterdam is the first home of car2go in the Netherlands and one of Europe's first all-electric carsharing networks.

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