VW launches electric car-share in Berlin

Volkswagen has launched an electric ‘free-floating’ car-share service called WeShare in Berlin. The fleet comprises 1,500 e-Golfs, and they are to be followed by 500 additional e-up!vehicles in the German capital at the beginning of next year. The first units of its full-electric ID.3 are due to be deployed in mid-2020, the manufacturer says. Initially, WeShare will cover around 150 km2 – in the city centre and beyond the city train ring line. The service costs €0.19 per minute but will increase to
July 9, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

994 Volkswagen has launched an electric ‘free-floating’ car-share service called WeShare in Berlin.

The fleet comprises 1,500 e-Golfs, and they are to be followed by 500 additional e-up!vehicles in the German capital at the beginning of next year.

The first units of its full-electric ID.3 are due to be deployed in mid-2020, the manufacturer says.

Initially, WeShare will cover around 150 km2 – in the city centre and beyond the city train ring line. The service costs €0.19 per minute but will increase to €0.29 in September.

WeShare will recharge its fleet on Berlin’s public charging network, which includes new charging points at 70 branches of food retailers Lidl and Kaufland.

The company’s service employees will collect and recharge the vehicles when the battery level is low. In later operation, users will receive incentives to recharge the vehicles themselves.

Customers must have a smartphone and credit card, be at least 21 years old, have had a driving licence for at least one year and be registered at an address in Germany.

Looking ahead, Volkswagen intends to bring WeShare to Prague, Czech Republic, with Skoda and then expand further into Germany with Hamburg next year.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Milton Keynes to trial wirelessly charged electric buses
    September 26, 2012
    In an initiative to enable the quieter, cleaner future of public transport in Milton Keynes, UK, eight organisations led by a subsidiary of Mitsui Europe ("Mitsui") have agreed a five-year collaboration committing to the replacement of diesel buses with their all-electric counterparts on one of the main bus routes in the city by summer 2013. The trial, which could reduce bus running costs by between US$19,500 and US$23,000 per year, is a partnership between Mitsui subsidiary eFleet Integrated Service, Milto
    Read More
  • Improve efforts to develop alternative fuels infrastructure, say MEPs
    September 26, 2018
    The European Commission (EC) and member states need to ‘redouble efforts’ to boost the development of an alternative fuels infrastructure, say transport MEPs. The warning comes in a draft resolution from the Transport and Tourism Committee. Ismail Ertug, rapporteur, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, says: “Our initiative report urges the Commission to accelerate the revision of the directive, come up with strong infrastructure targets and more funding for a
    Read More
  • London to have three more fully-electric bus routes
    July 7, 2017
    Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, have announced three more electric-only bus routes in the city on routes 46, 153 and 214, the latest in a series of measures to tackle London’s toxic air.
    Read More
  • Autumn budget: EV charging infrastructure fund and higher tax rates for diesel vehicles
    November 23, 2017
    Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has announced a £400m ($532m) charging infrastructure fund for electric vehicles (EVs), an extra £100m ($133m) investment in Plug-In-Car Grant, and a £40m ($53m) in charging R&D in the UK’s Autumn Budget 2017. He added that laws need to be clarified so that motorists who charge their EVs at work will not face a benefit-in-kind charge from next year.
    Read More

Highlighted Content