Tag Archives: car share

BMW unveils ReachNow car share on Capitol Hill — UPDATE

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IMG_5276 IMG_5286Car sharing in Seattle is getting an upgrade. BMW Group officials were on Capitol Hill Friday morning to unveil their re-booted and re-branded free floating car share service which will add all-electric BMW i3s and non-electric 3 Series and Mini cars to the city’s mix of park-anywhere vehicles.

ReachNow is the first competitor to Car2Go’s Smart Car fleet since Daimler AG rolled out the service in 2012. The official ReachNow launch includes a nod to BMW’s pre-app days — an event at the Pike Motorworks building, a former BMW dealership.

BMW officials were planned to be joined by Mayor Ed Murray to announce the company’s re-start of U.S. operations, which includes opening a new headquarters in Seattle. Officials say they plan to expand service to several other cities this year, but chose Seattle for its headquarters because of its environmentally conscious consumers and electric vehicle-friendly infrastructure. CHS will be updating here with more details from the event.

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BMW exec Peter Schwarzenbauer unveils ReachNow inside Pike Motorworks. (Image: CHS)

UPDATE: “Have a BMW for the weekend,” is how BMW executive Peter Schwarzenbauer pitched Seattle’s new car share service Friday morning. i3s, 3 Series, and Minis were parked inside and trotted about outside the Pike Motorworks building on E Pike to show off the ReachNow fleet, which is now available for rides.

During the event Schwarzenbauer highlighted some of the “premium” services that will go above the traditional care share model. Among the most innovative is allowing BMW and Mini owners to earn money by putting their own vehicles on the ReachNow network. Just how much car sharers will be compensated is still getting worked out.

Details were also scant on some of the other promised features, like how service to SeaTac Airport will work and when ReachNow’s service map will expand to more Seattle neighborhoods. Users can drive outside the “home area” but cannot end trips there. Schwarzenbauer said when all its services roll out this year, ReachNow would clearly stand apart from Car2Go.

“We have only premium cars in our fleet,” he said. “We would see ourselves as the only one in the market that tries to cover every need you would have.” Continue reading →

City: Thousands of Seattle drivers ditched own vehicles for car share

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Three Car2Go cars ready to go

Thousands of Seattle drivers turned in their private vehicles for a Car2Go membership in 2015, a trend poised to continue in 2016 as a new provider gears up for service in the city.

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, 14% of Car2Go members gave up a private vehicle in 2015. Half of those said the availability of free floating car share was part of the reason. That translates to roughly 9,100 private vehicles let go by car share users in 2015, with around 4,500 dropped because owners had access to the Daimler AG-backed service.

The data is also a good sign for BMW, which is nearly ready to launch its re-booted car sharing service in Seattle. BMW is expected to officially launch the Car2Go competitor here soon with testing of the all-electric i3 fleet already underway. UPDATE: BMW also uses non-electric Mini vehicles in its car share fleet, which have recently been spotted around Seattle.

Meanwhile, City Hall has also rolled out a Drive Clean Seattle initiative to improve infrastructure for electric vehicle and electrify the city’s own vehicle fleet.

BMW’s preparations come a year after the Seattle City Council voted to allow three more free-floating car share vendors to join Car2Go. Car2Go currently has 750 vehicles permitted for its service — the maximum allowed by the City for an individual provider. With four vendors, that means Seattle could have up to 3,000 free-floating cars on the road. Continue reading →