Photo: BMW
It’s a known fact that the UK’s capital is one of those places where you can’t just drive anything. In order to protect its inhabitants from deadly exhaust fumes, the city officials decided to introduce a couple of taxes that would discourage using your car.
The so-called congestion tax works to some extent but people still need to get around and do their daily chores. Trying to keep emissions as low as possible, EVs might offer an alternative. After all, EV drivers don’t have to pay to gain access downtown.
BMW stepped right in and will offer a car sharing service with i3 cars starting with 2015, according to CAR Magazine. Their program, DriveNow, will be posting cars in strategic locations around the city that will be available for rental with an easy process.
The system will allow citizens to hire cars with less money than they would pay for a taxi. They will be strategically placed, reserved and unlocked via a smartphone app. Furthermore, you’re free to recharge the car via a special card. Billing will be automatic.
Of course, in theory, it all sounds great: you look up an available car, go to it and open it via your smartphone. You then drive around for as much as you please and leave it at another predetermined point, closer to your destination. However, some problems could occur.
The thing is, some boroughs of the city are actually pretty well covered by public transport and therefore render using any kind of car rather redundant. Furthermore, taking a cab or the bus means you can drink when you’re going out, a thing DriveNow should bare in mind.
What’s more, you can’t guarantee the driving skills of a prospective renter are going to be on par with the expectations. Therefore, the insurance to be paid for these rental i3s could go through the roof after a year or so.
Also relevant is the fact that similar programs have failed in the UK and are now being pulled out. It’s the case of the Car2Go service that was developed with smart cars with the cooperation of Daimler. The service’s plug was pulled in May this year, the officials behind it saying just that the customer feedback and the UK’s strong culture of actually owning a car played a part in their decision.
BMW stepped right in and will offer a car sharing service with i3 cars starting with 2015, according to CAR Magazine. Their program, DriveNow, will be posting cars in strategic locations around the city that will be available for rental with an easy process.
The system will allow citizens to hire cars with less money than they would pay for a taxi. They will be strategically placed, reserved and unlocked via a smartphone app. Furthermore, you’re free to recharge the car via a special card. Billing will be automatic.
Of course, in theory, it all sounds great: you look up an available car, go to it and open it via your smartphone. You then drive around for as much as you please and leave it at another predetermined point, closer to your destination. However, some problems could occur.
The thing is, some boroughs of the city are actually pretty well covered by public transport and therefore render using any kind of car rather redundant. Furthermore, taking a cab or the bus means you can drink when you’re going out, a thing DriveNow should bare in mind.
What’s more, you can’t guarantee the driving skills of a prospective renter are going to be on par with the expectations. Therefore, the insurance to be paid for these rental i3s could go through the roof after a year or so.
Also relevant is the fact that similar programs have failed in the UK and are now being pulled out. It’s the case of the Car2Go service that was developed with smart cars with the cooperation of Daimler. The service’s plug was pulled in May this year, the officials behind it saying just that the customer feedback and the UK’s strong culture of actually owning a car played a part in their decision.
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