Attempting to produce a programme where people share cars, BMW has developed an electric 1 Series and a program in which people can book a car and drive it for the day, all for a nominal fee. If you are 21 and have a smartphone, you can book it via an app and a membership card.
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There will be 14 DriveNow stations all around San Francisco, acting as the initial city for the programme, and BMW wants to expand it to 100 stations after not long. Members only have to book a car online using the app and go fetch their car at one of the designated stations. The drivers will use their membership cards to lock and unlock the cars.
There is an initial membership activation fee of US$39 and there after it is US$12 for the first half-hour and afterwards it’s US$0.32 for every minute driving and US$0.12 for every minute parked. You can also use it for the whole day for US$90.
The DriveNow fleet currently has 70 ActiveE electric cars at the moment. The cars are 1 Series Coupes with one electric motor producing 170bhp with 185lb ft of torque. The range is 80-100 miles on a single charge and will probably not do that much if you are doing 0-100 sprints in the claimed under nine seconds.
The program will eventually expand its fleet with BMW’s i3 city car. That should add significant appeal and range to the program.
