The total number of customers rose by ten percent in the first half of the year alone and currently stands at 3.3 million, an increase of as much as 25 percent since July 2017. In the first six months of the year, customers covered a total distance of over 90 million kilometers worldwide with the 14,000 vehicles, around ten percent of which were driven by one of the 1,400 electric vehicles.

Since July 25, 2018, 400 smart fortwo and Mercedes-Benz vehicles from car2go have been available for spontaneous rental at the new location in Chicago. Chicago is the third-largest city in the USA and, with its high population density and well-developed public transportation system, offers the perfect conditions for the success of the free-floating car sharing concept.

Including the new opening in Chicago, the car sharing pioneer is now represented in 25 cities on three continents worldwide and is further expanding its global market leadership in the field of flexible, station-independent car sharing. Talks are also currently underway with several major cities in other countries.

"I am convinced that the future of car sharing lies in electromobility," emphasizes Reppert. The company's focus on electromobility is also reflected in the development of its vehicle fleets worldwide: the first electrically powered smart two-seaters of the latest generation have been in the Stuttgart fleet since mid-June. This makes Stuttgart the world's first location with the current electrically powered smart 453 model series, which is set to gradually replace the previous generation.

In Montréal, 20 electric smart vehicles have also been part of the range as part of a pilot project since June 2018. And in Hamburg, there is also an agreement with the city to gradually electrify the fleet by the end of 2019. car2go is already in talks with other cities in Europe. A well-developed charging infrastructure is a prerequisite for the electrification of car sharing fleets.

Convertibles have also been available for the first time since this summer. In Rome, customers have been able to rent one of the 20 new additions to the vehicle range since June 2018, for example for trips to the nearest beach.

"Mobility is now a basic need that affects almost everyone on a daily basis. car2go plays an important role in this when residents want to get around their city individually. Over three million customers speak for themselves," says Olivier Reppert, "and almost 2,000 new customers are added every day who live the sharing principle and are ambassadors for sustainable urban mobility."

The cities with the most customers worldwide are Berlin with 258,000 customers, Chongqing with 255,000 customers and Hamburg in third place with 212,000 customers. Berlin (plus 21,000), New York (plus 20,000) and Vancouver and Chongqing have also recorded the strongest growth with 18,000 new customers each since January 2018.