Car-sharing usage up in Germany
Deutsche Welle
German car-sharing companies logged sharp growth in 2018, picking up an extra 350,000 registered customers, . The total number of registered users increased to 2.46 million, while the number of car-sharing vehicles on the road rose 12 percent to 20,200, . “Free-floating” car-sharing programs – in which vehicles are located by mobile phone – remained the most popular type of service after usage grew 15 percent last year. The “station-based” sector, in which cars are picked up and dropped off at designated locations, grew 21.5 percent. According to bcs, station-based services in particular allowed people living in larger towns and cities to go without a car of their own altogether.
Germany has made no progress in cleaning up its transport sector, where emissions have slightly increased in the past decades. Many experts believe car-sharing services will be central to future mobility. Luxury carmakers Daimler and BMW are currently combining their car-sharing businesses Car2Go and DriveNow.