14 DAY TRIAL // The car2go scheme has been deployed so far in Ulm and Hamburg in Germany, the Texan capital Austin in the US and Vancouver in Canada. Now, it is time for the second European country to welcome it: France.
The first French city to benefit from Daimler’s mobility service is Lyon, who will provide residents a fleet of 200 smart fortwo cars available for “on-demand” rentals.
Members can easily locate the closest available vehicle within a defined operating area of 44 square kilometres via the internet with the help of a smartphone application.
They can rent a vehicle instantly without the need to reserve it in advance. In addition, car2go allows its members to use the vehicle for as long as they like, without committing to a specific return time or location.
What is really interesting is that members pay only for the time they use the vehicle, with rental periods as short as one minute.
“Innovative urban mobility solutions like car2go offer a way to help meet the challenges of urban congestion, reducing carbon emissions and improving quality of life,” said Gérard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon and President of ”‘Grand Lyon”.
“Following the actions we initiated in 2005 with Velo’v, the first self-service bike sharing system, Lyon is innovating again with car2go, a new approach to car sharing which is complementary to other initiatives enabling our residents to move around town,” he added.
he smart fortwo electric drive is powered by a 30 kW electric propulsion system. On a single charge, the car can travel up to 84 miles. Battery recharging time from 20 percent to 80 percent of battery full capacity is just three and a half hours.
Every car2go vehicle is outfitted with a solar roof and innovative telematics hardware, including an onboard computer with an easy-to-use touch screen with radio and GPS controls.
Remember that the benefits of car sharing for our environment are enormous: fewer cars on the road means less congestion, less pollution, less dependence on oil, and cleaner, fresher air to breathe.