DriveNow

DriveNow (English drive " go " now " now ", in German as: "Go now ") is a carsharing service of the German car manufacturer BMW and the car rental company Sixt. Sixt provides the logistics for BMW vehicles. The project was launched on 9 June 2011 in Munich and now offers its services also in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Hamburg and San Francisco. The fleet comprises over 2400 vehicles. In March 2014 DriveNow came to more than 250,000 customers and is now the third largest vendor in Germany.

The direct competitor of the station unbound flexible ( free floating) car sharing is car2go Daimler with two-seater car of the Smart. The operators of DriveNow offer a fleet of different mini - models (Coupe, Convertible, Clubman, Countryman ), as well as the BMW X1 models, number 1 and ActiveE.

Development

On June 9, 2011 DriveNow was introduced with a car fleet of 300 vehicles in Munich in September 2011 in Berlin, in 2012 in Dusseldorf and Cologne. The fifth German city of Hamburg was followed in November 2013 with 450 vehicles. In June 2012, DriveNow started in the first American city, San Francisco, exclusively with electric vehicles.

In 2012, the carsharing concept DriveNow received the ÖkoGlobe 2012 in the category of mobility models. In April 2013 DriveNow was honored during a test of carsharing providers as the winner in the field of free- floating party.

Mini Cooper SD Coupé

Mini Cooper Convertible

Operation

In contrast to classic car hire, where you rents a car at a fixed location and typically returns after one or more days in the new car-sharing models use a free of parked vehicles in urban areas with minute timing is possible. The minute costs from 24 cents including fuel and parking fees (for purchase of minute packages ). Typically, the car must be parked in the same city in which it was rented. An exception are Dusseldorf and Cologne: Here is an additional cost return in each city since May 2013 possible.

The hiring of vehicles done in two steps: One seeks an available near the current location of the vehicle. To search in addition to the web browser are apps on smartphones. Here you can reserve for 15 minutes with no cancellation fees the vehicle also. At the car arrived, a glued- in the license RFID chip is read to a sensor in the windshield. The car opens, and after entering a PIN code can start the trip. As the competitors also pays DriveNow to the local governments of cities in order to allow the customer a free parking in paid parking zones.

Electromobility

In June 2012, DriveNow started in San Francisco, California, with 70 electric vehicles of the type BMW ActiveE. Because of the low in comparison to car with internal combustion engines range from about 100 km a frequent reloading is required. These cooperates, the BMW Group in San Francisco with the world's largest provider of electric charging stations Coulomb Technologies and developed for its own brand: ParkNow. Electric vehicles are rented at such a station and parked in one of the 14 ParkNow station again; the system guaranteed when booking a parking space at the destination.

Because by the concept of the flexible car sharing is broken and the customer is fixed as in conventional car-sharing services on fixed stations, DriveNow loosened the tariffs for this: The first half hour will cost $ 12, then every 32 minutes dollar cents.

Since June 2013, DriveNow its customers in Berlin and Munich, a total of 60 electric cars of the BMW ActiveE is available. The integration of electric vehicles is part of the research project WiMobil that examines the effect of e- car sharing systems on mobility and environment in urban areas.

The use of the BMW i3 is also provided for the year 2014.