Daimler Group’s car-sharing provider, car2go, will be opening its 31st international location in Brussels in October 2016. The world's largest free-floating car-sharer will start up business with 300 vehicles in an area covering around 50 sq km in the city of Brussels, Belgium.

The car2go service will use almost exclusively smart fortwo vehicles, which are particularly suitable for use in cities, in the Belgian metropolis. The 250 smart fortwo vehicles will be supplemented in Brussels with a further 50 Mercedes-Benz A-Class vehicles.

After Madrid (November 2015) and Chongqing/China, where it bagged 78,000 customers since its launch in April 2016, Brussels will be the third international location opened by car2go within less than a year.

Commenting on the expansion plan, Roland Keppler, CEO of car2go said, "We are consequently implementing the car2go growth strategy and underlining our world-wide market leadership in free-floating car-sharing. The increasing usage of car2go clearly shows a growing demand for spontaneous mobility around the globe.”

Currently, car2go has around 1.9 million registered customers, using every 1.5 seconds of one of the 14,000 car2go vehicles in the global fleet.

The car2go mobility experts anticipate that the service in Brussels will lead to a medium-term improvement to the strained inner city traffic situation. The free-floating concept from car2go, which has around 1.9 million registered customers, has been a valuable complement to local public transport in 15 other European metropolitan cities.

How does car2go work?

Car2go service allows users to book a car using the company’s app. The service does not charge users any parking fees, fuel charges or surge pricing. Customers can use the app to unlock the car, grab the keys and drive to their respective destination.

Electric mobility training

In April 2015, Daimler opened driving schools in Germany offering learner drivers a simple introduction to locally emission-free mobility. 

After passing their eDriverLicence driving test, the programme allows young drivers over the age of 18 to use the car2go service and drive electric. They can register straight away with car2go – and without incurring registration charges. On top of this, they receive a one-off gift of 100 free minutes.

The course includes two driving lessons and a double theory lesson. The course participants, too, can take advantage of a one-off gift of 100 free minutes with car2go, without a registration fee.