Photo: Volkswagen
WeShare. This is the name you need to remember if you are one of those people using car sharing services, because as of now Volkswagen is in the game. At first in Berlin, and later elsewhere.
During a video conference it held earlier on Wednesday in the German capital, Volkswagen announced it is entering the car-sharing segment with its own service. Called WeShare, it is to be among the very few to offer only electric cars to its customers.
Like most other services of this type, WeShare is free-floating and app based. For now, it relies on a network of 1,500 e-Golf cars, some of which have already been deployed throughout the city, but more vehicles are to be added in the future: e-up! at the beginning of 2020 and the new ID.3 later the same year.
In the early months of service, the accepted operating area for the cars is a 150 square kilometers region around Berlin’s center and beyond the city train ring line, but as more cars join the fleet the area will grow.
Financially, WeShare offers among the best rates on the market, at least in its early months. Renting a WeShare car will cost Germans 19 cents per minute, with no registration fees to be paid. Prices will increase in September to 29 cents per minute.
In the beginning at least, charging the cars’ batteries will be conducted by WeShare employees only, but later down the line Volkswagen is considering offering incentives for customers to do it themselves.
“With WeShare, we have tailored car sharing to meet the needs of users: easy to use with 100 percent electric operation on green power,” said in a statement Christian Senger, Volkswagen executive in charge with digital services.
“With such a consistent, broad offering, we stand out from the competition. We are outstandingly well-positioned to participate in the expanding car sharing market.”
If all goes well in Berlin, the Germans plan to expand the service to Prague and Hamburg.
Like most other services of this type, WeShare is free-floating and app based. For now, it relies on a network of 1,500 e-Golf cars, some of which have already been deployed throughout the city, but more vehicles are to be added in the future: e-up! at the beginning of 2020 and the new ID.3 later the same year.
In the early months of service, the accepted operating area for the cars is a 150 square kilometers region around Berlin’s center and beyond the city train ring line, but as more cars join the fleet the area will grow.
Financially, WeShare offers among the best rates on the market, at least in its early months. Renting a WeShare car will cost Germans 19 cents per minute, with no registration fees to be paid. Prices will increase in September to 29 cents per minute.
In the beginning at least, charging the cars’ batteries will be conducted by WeShare employees only, but later down the line Volkswagen is considering offering incentives for customers to do it themselves.
“With WeShare, we have tailored car sharing to meet the needs of users: easy to use with 100 percent electric operation on green power,” said in a statement Christian Senger, Volkswagen executive in charge with digital services.
“With such a consistent, broad offering, we stand out from the competition. We are outstandingly well-positioned to participate in the expanding car sharing market.”
If all goes well in Berlin, the Germans plan to expand the service to Prague and Hamburg.
Google News