Smart Car Sharing: Milan Gets car2go Service
Ryan Joseph Ramos August 12, 2013
This month marks another milestone in Daimler’s car2go car-sharing service, as Milan gets to enjoy a fleet of 450 smart fortwo vehicles slated to be fully available by the middle of September.
While the smart eco-friendly vehicle brand certainly isn’t the biggest moneymaker in the Daimler stable, those vehicles together with the car2go platform allows the German automaker to make good on its promise of delivering sustainable automotive solutions, particularly for urban mobility applications that are focused upon by car2go.
Being able to expand into a city like Milan expands the platform’s reach and should allow for better positioning in the European marketplace moving forward. If car2go continues to reach out to more markets gradually and effectively, then the smart effort will pay off for Daimler in the long run.
The service started in Milan last August 8. The initial fleet–an advance party, if you will–is made up of 150 fortwo Coupe units, and the area covered by the service includes almost the entire city for a total of around 120 square kilometers. The Coupe variants of the fortwo are only responsible for 98 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer.
Stefan Mueller, car2go Europe’s CEO, stated that the dynamic city is sensitive to sustainable mobility and that it has its attention on its very own urban lifestyle. Incidentally, Italy also happens to be the largest market for the smart brand, and for the fortwo, to be more specific. In addition, the car2go service took home the prestigious Legambiente prize last year thanks to perceived “Environmentally Friendly Innovation.”
The car2go service is known for the convenience it offers, without having to break the bank on the customer’s end. There’s the standard per-minute charge on the rentals, and there’s no need to pay monthly fees. A customer only needs to pay a one-time subscription fee, although it was free on launch day. In addition, new customers are given complimentary minutes (30 minutes), which should be ample time to find their way around the service.
