Skip to main content

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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • USDoT pilots show win-win potential for connected vehicles
    December 19, 2017
    Pete Goldin discovers the state of play with connected vehicles trials in the US and the impact of Hurricane Irma on Tampa’s pilot. The US Department of Transportation’s (USDoT’s) connected vehicle (CV) pilot sites have moved into phase 2 of the deployment programme– design, build, test and, maybe most importantly, collaborate.
  • Authorities play the parking ticket
    April 10, 2014
    Having long been a cause of contention with their constituents, local authorities are now using parking provision to entice shoppers and reduce congestion. To say that parking, and particularly parking enforcement, is a contentious and emotive issue is something of an understatement. Across the globe the discontentment with parking facilities, charges and enforcement is a major cause of friction between local authorities and the residents, businesses and drivers in the area. Recently there was outrage in
  • Uber: AB5 ‘does not automatically reclassify’ drivers
    September 18, 2019
    Business life may be about to get trickier for transportation network companies following the passing of a new law in California which aims to give gig economy workers more rights. Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), which is due to come into effect in January next year, says that “a person providing labour or services for remuneration shall be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor” - unless three points are proved. One, that “the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the con
  • Anywhere card delivers prepaid contactless ticketing
    January 25, 2012
    David Crawford investigates a far reaching initiative in integrated travel. The Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO), an operator of high speed commuter rail in the north eastern US, is not one of the world's best known transit providers. Its 13 stations along a single east-west route (three of them interchanges with other regional commuter lines) handle 40,000 passengers a day, travelling to and from Philadelphia, the US' fifth most populous city.