Copenhagen's New All-Electric Public Carsharing Programming
dkatana writes: Residents in Copenhagen have a new all-electric, free-floating, carsharing service. DriveNow is launching 400 brand new BMW i3 electric cars in the Danish city. The service is one-way, and metered by the minute. The big news is that residents can sign-up on the spot taking a picture of their drivers' license and a selfie and use their public transport accounts to pay. There will be a car available every 300 meters, the same distance as bus stops. The cost will be 3.50 kroner ($0.52) per minute driven. If members decide to park the car for a few minutes continuing the rental, those stationary minutes are charged at 2.5 kroner ($0.37). The maximum charge per hour is capped at 190 kroner ($28.50). There is no annual fee.
Or for slightly less per month based on average monthly usage, you could buy, insure and fuel an I3 and when you got tired of it, you could sell it and get some money back.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
i3? Yuck.
Yep the one car that is uglier than a PT Cruiser.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I had the pleasure of spending a couple of weeks in Copenhagen earlier this year. The public transport is excellent, there are separate cycle paths with their own traffic lights everywhere, and now you can rent an electric car if you absolutely need one. We used the train a lot and walked around many Km too. It was easy to rent a car when we did need one but if I lived there it is highly unlikely I would want to own one because the traffic is pretty bad and the public transport offered is excellent. The car is such a dinosaur when it comes to getting around a city.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
My city has a similar program: http://www.indystar.com/story/...
So they park them everywhere evenly to start with, and over time they cluster into groupings. How do they fix that? Will they have a fleet of drivers picking cars up to ensure spread of cars?
Yep the one car that is uglier than a PT Cruiser.
They chose the i3 for the same reason that US rental car companies use PT Cruisers: No one will steal them.
Yep the one car that is uglier than a PT Cruiser.
You forgot the first-generation Pontiac Aztek, and arguably, the VW Thing. But the Aztek is undeniable. It looks like the bounding box for a PT Cruiser. It looks like the shipping crate for a Citroen.
I saw my first i3 recently, though, and I was stunned at just how ugly it is in person. Serious wow factor, as in, wow that is about the ugliest pile of shit I've ever seen. I think the technology is pretty nifty, but I wouldn't like to be caught dead in the same photograph as an i3.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Yep the one car that is uglier than a PT Cruiser.
You forgot the first-generation Pontiac Aztek, and arguably, the VW Thing. But the Aztek is undeniable. It looks like the bounding box for a PT Cruiser. It looks like the shipping crate for a Citroen.
I rate the Aztek as being less ugly that the PT Cruiser, plus the Aztek never made it outside the US. I've seen a PT Cruiser Cabrio and thought it'd have to be the most useless convertible ever, You'd only be able to use it on unlit roads at the dead of night to ensure no-one saw you in it.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I saw my first i3 recently, though, and I was stunned at just how ugly it is in person. Serious wow factor, as in, wow that is about the ugliest pile of shit I've ever seen. I think the technology is pretty nifty, but I wouldn't like to be caught dead in the same photograph as an i3.
If they made EVs look just like regular cars, then other people wouldn't be able to tell that you are making such a supreme sacrifice for the good of humanity and they wouldn't even realize how they should bow down and worship you as the savior of the environment.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
It's rare to see a 21st century car that's not ugly. They all look bloated, uglily shiny and look angry or pissed off for no good reason.
Perhaps the car passive-aggressivity is done on purpose : people are meant to be aggressive and afraid of each other, so that they feel insecure and remedy that insecurity by buying consumer products, and they make distressed competitive workers too.
I saw my first i3 recently, though, and I was stunned at just how ugly it is in person. Serious wow factor, as in, wow that is about the ugliest pile of shit I've ever seen. I think the technology is pretty nifty, but I wouldn't like to be caught dead in the same photograph as an i3.
If they made EVs look just like regular cars, then other people wouldn't be able to tell that you are making such a supreme sacrifice for the good of humanity and they wouldn't even realize how they should bow down and worship you as the savior of the environment.
A person in my car park owns an I3, on the back he's got a "Australian Electric Vehicle Network" sticker. I've been tempted to place another sticker below that saying "Proudly supporting the Australian tow truck and flatbed association".
Then again, he's still bitter from when I posted a letter on his windscreen saying I didn't need his car parking next to me to make my Silvia look good.
I have to wonder how many carbons a cummins 9L diesel puts out with an EV on the back.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
You mean status and aesthetic considerations have any importance in case of a means of transportation?
I could agree with aesthetics being important but then we are all different and have different tastes which sort of makes a generally well received vehicle a futile endeavor. Besides I have impression that the reason people prefer one car over the other has nothing to do with aesthetics but rather the status. In other words - can you explain how does Tesla extends your dick better than anything else?
I have been wondering why electric charging stations have been popping up all over my street the past few months and it is a bit funny to see the answer on the front page of slashdot!
To see why something like this makes sense in a place like Copenhagen people got to keep in mind the transportation pattern over here is very different than in the US. I am in a household of two and we could easily afford a car, but since our workplace is 12 km from home we both bike to work. In addition we have a large tricycle for transporting larger things or when going out together (is this redundant? ;-) ). In a city with good bicycling lanes this is by far an easier and quicker way to get around than by car. Large tricycles are very common over here, especially for families with children who often have the electric versions. The cost saved by not having a car is fairly significant especially when factoring in parking, insurance and environmental tax, although the people who quote the 150% VAT figure should keep in mind that *with* tax intensives the cost of an *all electric* car like the BMW i3 appears to be about the same as in the US.
The bottom line is in Copenhagen you have a lot of people who do most (or all) their transportation using bicycles but still need to buy a mattress in Ikea every once in a while. In that situation being able to *easily* rent a car just outside home is a very good service, even if it is a bit expensive per minute.
I live in downtown Copenhagen and own a car, and yet I'm super excited about this!
With 400 cars scattered across the city, you can almost expect and plan for a car to be available in your vicinity. Huge flexibility and so many use cases.
Owning a car in Copenhagen, even a small and highly economical car is easily minimum 400 USD per month, everything included; parking, depreciation, fuel, insurance, service etc. You can drive one of these guys around for many many hours for the same price. So if you live in the city and don't need a car for the daily commute, this is a superb alternative to owning one. Have already signed up and expect to use this on a regular basis.
That's pretty expensive. I'm sure Copenhagen has a pretty good public transport / bike scheme which means you could get from A to B for a fraction of that cost. Even a taxi is probably cheaper.
i3? Yuck. Give me an i8 or go home. I just wish they had it with a turbodeisel engine.
It is a car you can get access to for a few dollars. It is meant to be ugly so that no one wants to steal it or joyride it to destruction.
The city of Indianapolis just started doing the same program on 09/02/2015. It is called BlueIndy.
The article claims that users can "drop [the cars] off anywhere that public parking is allowed within the city". Given that I very much doubt every single public parking spot in the city has a a charger, and assuming they are not stupid and did not lie, that means they plan on having a bunch of employees running around moving the cars to the nearest charger(*). That could partly explain why the price is over twice as much per hour as the similar Autolib' service in Paris.
(*) Note that no matter what it's necessary to have employees moving the cars around if only so they don't all accumulate in one spot (Autolib' in Paris does that too). But letting users park anywhere would likely seriously increase the workload.
I can't speak for outside the US, but inside the US, there's this mentality of cars being supposed to keep you safe if there's an accident.
Perhaps what you're seeing is the natural extension of buying an SUV to be "safer". However, instead of being in a big car that can take a hit, now it's being in the car that outwardly says "don't mess with me".
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
I rate the Aztek as being less ugly that the PT Cruiser, plus the Aztek never made it outside the US.
Well, this implies you don't live here in the US, where you might actually encounter one of these vehicles. Just like the i3 is staggeringly uglier in person than in BMW press photos, the Aztek is fractally ugly. The more you look at it, the more new things you find to hate about it. When I saw it, I seriously thought it was a concept car that hadn't been refined yet. But no, it was a production vehicle already, in all its... glory. Every proportion just screams wrongness, like a bug wearing an Edgar suit.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Because Tesla sacrifices aerodynamic drag for styling, because they have big expensive battery packs. When the Nissan Leaf was designed, every decision was based on minimizing drag, and thus maximizing range. It has big weird bug eye headlights, which create bubbles of low pressure around the side view mirrors at highway speeds.
i disagree with more than half the things you say in your posts that i've noticed...
but in this instance, about the aztec. you are correct. Looked it up... and had a visceral reaction.
it causes me physical discomfort to appreciate the proportions, the sheen, the shape... god the proportions, the finish, oh god the proportions...
dear lord,
this was too deliberate not to be intentional... some designer out there hates people with eyes.