How Car Sharing is Taking Over Berlin


Fully Charged/Video screen capture

Robert Llewellyn could be forgiven for looking a little nervous as he steps into that Mini. He’s not totally sure he’s not stealing it.

But this is Berlin, where car sharing schemes are commonplace and flexible car club cars are parked on just about every street corner. Earlier this year, Christine Lepisto reported on the launch of Car2go in Berlin, with over 1000 cars being deployed on the city streets and accessible to members through a smartphone app and remote access.

But just how well does it work? Excellently, it Robert llewellyn’s experiences are anything to go by.


Fully Charged/Video screen capture

From the freaky, lightweight, windowless Renault Twizy to a QA on electric cars with Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, it’s fair to say that Llewellyn can get pretty excited (even geeky) about new automotive technologies. So it is good to see him getting equally excited about new models of ownership and access that provide the best of both worlds—access to cars when you need them, much lower maintenance and running costs, and a reduced environmental impact through sharing resources and incentivizing walking, biking or public transit when it is more convenient/affordable.

From the easy access to multiple cars, through the increasing number of electric vehicles in the fleet, to the saved personal preferences on the cars’ navigation (not to mention the ability to check in advance if the car has been cleaned), it does seem like Car2go have thought through all the little details that might make or break the car sharing experience for the average urbanite.

Given how rarely I clean the inside of my own car, I would LOVE to have access to a car when I need it that someone else takes care of for me.

When is Car2go coming to Durham, NC?

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