BMW partners with City of Munich to expand charging infrastructure

The Department of Health and Environment of the City of Munich (LHM), the BMW Group and carsharing provider SHARE NOW are joining forces to promote innovative mobility in the state capital.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding issued on 3 September in Munich, LHM and the BMW Group are set to expand their cooperation.

Carsharing provider SHARE NOW, which was formed in early 2019 as part of the joint venture between the BMW Group and Daimler AG, will expand its electric fleet significantly under the agreement: As a result, a total of 200 BMW i3s will be available to SHARE NOW customers on Munich roads by the end of the year.

These measures are designed to speed up the transition to sustainable mobility already underway in an effort to improve the air situation in Munich. On behalf of the City, the public works department, Stadtwerke München, will install a total of 550 charging posts, with 1,100 charging points, on public land by 2020. There are currently 460 charging posts with 920 charging points across the city. Up to 1,655 more charging points will be set up in residential buildings, on commercial land and in public car parks by the end of 2020. Up to 400 additional charging points will be installed on public land by private providers.

According to the Environmental Officer for the City of Munich, Stephanie Jacobs: “Electromobility is key to the transition to sustainable mobility in our city. For air pollution control, health and climate protection, vehicles in our city must be emission-free wherever possible. This is the only way we can meet the objectives of air pollution control and climate neutrality. In parallel, the transition to sustainable mobility must also include attractive sharing options for electric vehicles, as well as massive expansion of public transport. My motto has always been not to operate with bans and prohibitions, but to create attractive incentives for people to change their behaviour. That is why we as the state capital are deliberately seeking to promote locally emission-free electromobility.”

Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Transformation, Electromobility: “Electrification of vehicles is an important strategic objective for the BMW Group. Collaborations such as this with the Department of Health and Environment of the City of Munich are therefore of strategic importance to us. Doubling the size of the electric SHARE NOW fleet by the end of the year is only the first step. We are ready to take further steps with LHM.”

On the basis of this partnership, carsharing provider SHARE NOW will increase its current electric fleet of 85 BMW i3s in Munich to 200 by the end of the year - more than doubling the size of the company's electric fleet in the Bavarian capital. The new vehicles will be gradually introduced to the Munich fleet. At the same time, the 85 BMW i3s used to date will also be replaced by vehicles of the latest generation, with a range of up to 260 kilometres.

“SHARE NOW sees itself as a pioneer of electromobility. Our goal is for a quarter of our carsharing fleet in Europe to be electric by the end of the year - we are already at 20 percent. Our collaboration with the City of Munich is a positive example of what is possible when businesses and municipalities pull together and formulate ambitious goals,” said SHARE NOW CEO Olivier Reppert.

More than 100,000 customers in the Bavarian capital have already experienced an electric car. A customer survey carried out by the company in 2018 spotlighted the Munich population's interest in electromobility: It found that 79% of all users surveyed would choose an electric car over a vehicle with a combustion engine if they were the same distance away. The strong demand for electric car sharing is also reflected in the 1.5 million kilometres driven by SHARE NOW electric cars in Munich last year alone.