Daimler was the first manufacturer to put a fleet of 200 smart vehicles on the road for location-independent carsharing in 2009. Ten years later, the sharing economy has grown into a booming industry – with carsharing as one of the most popular business models. The brand celebrated the anniversary together with SHARE NOW in Paris with a panel discussion on the topic.
smart can rightfully call itself a pioneer of the sharing economy. In 2009, Daimler established the first fleet for free-floating carsharing in Ulm with 200 smart vehicles. One year before, car2go – today SHARE NOW – had started operations as the first location-independent carsharing system worldwide. Today, SHARE NOW has more than four million customers around the world, more than three million of them in Europe alone. The service provides some 20,000 vehicles, including 3200 electric cars. Customers take advantage of the offer in 31 cities in 14 countries for more than 100,000 drives a day, with more than 12,000 of them on all-electric power.
“When we started in Ulm in 2009, the sharing economy was still in its infancy. Today, free-floating carsharing is a perfectly natural part of the daily routine in larger cities. We are delighted that we at smart together with SHARE NOW have shaped this field from the very start and have also paved the way for private carsharing. Because carsharing reduces congestion, air pollution and parking shortages. smart delivers the perfect vehicles for this purpose”, says Jakob Luickhardt, Portfolio Strategy and Hardware smart Services.
Anniversary with panel discussion
Paris is considered the “first mover” in matters of innovative mobility services. An all-electric smart fleet numbering 400 vehicles has been in flexible carsharing operations there since the beginning of the year. An ideal place for celebrating the sharing economy anniversary of the brand. The highlight of the event was a panel discussion on the subject of the “Sharing Economy”, in which Jakob Luickhardt, Simon Broesamle, Chief Business Development Officer SHARE NOW as well as strategy consultant, speaker and blogger Stéphane Schultz took part.
Amongst other things, the discussion centred on the question of how needs-based, sustainable and efficient passenger transport can be designed in the future. How can traffic be reduced and city-centre infrastructures be relieved? How can a new urban quality of life be created?
“Each of our vehicles already replaces up to eight private cars today and thus makes an important contribution to a higher quality of life in the cities. In high-density metropolises such as Paris, the all-electric smart is the most popular carsharing vehicle for the customers of SHARE NOW and an optimal complement to the public transport network and other mobility solutions”, says Simon Broesamle.
Please click here to view the full press release.
SOURCE: Daimler
