April 1, 2016

What will BMW carsharing mean for Seattle?

car2go is a popular car-sharing program with about 75,000 drivers and more than 700 vehicles, which launched in Seattle about three years ago.

Due to the demand for free floating car-sharing system in the city, the Seattle City Council has agreed to welcome BMW and its car sharing system, (formerly known as DriveNow, but with a rebranding in store) to the city, and more generally, to open the city up to as many as 3,000 car share vehicles.

Begun in Munich Germany in June 2011, DriveNow provides  free floating car sharing system in several cities such as Munich, Berlin, London, Copenhagen in Europe. The program also launched in San Francisco, the Bay Area in 2012 but was suspended in 2015, because of the authorities’ refusal to permit DriveNow vehicles to park on the street: all vehicles had to park in their own parking places. It appears that in Seattle the vehicles will be parked right on the street just like car2go.

There are several vehicle type BMW could supply for its new carsharing program in Seattle, The electric i3 has been spotted in Seattle, and it appears the MINI Cooper may be a possibility as well. Even though the operation pattern is very similar as car2go, DriveNow will bring users in Seattle a totally different experience.

BMW will bring Seattle a bigger and more comfortable vehicle for free float carsharing. Unlike the Smart Fortwo cars of Car2go, which can only carry at most two passengers, the BMW i3 has four seats and a bigger body. The size of vehicles in DriveNow program could help the system provide service for different trip purpose; it could help tourists or families. On the other hand, since Smart ForTwo has only two seats, it may be used mostly for commuting.

Another key difference is that the i3’s offered by BMW are electric. Unlike the gasoline cars of car2go, the BMW i3 will be more environmentally friendly. However, they may require a higher investment, because charging devices should be installed to meet the needs of the vehicles. In addition, some research shows that the driving behavior of drivers may be different.

What will BMW carsharing bring to Seattle? We’ll only know the full answer once the program has operated for some time in this city.