E-car sharing in the Dachau district

What has been working in large cities for years is now set to change mobility in rural areas: car sharing.

The Volkbank-Raiffeisenbank Dachau has now launched an innovative project with e-cars for the district.

The Petershausen community is also on board.

Three Renault-Zoe and one VW Golf are now available at three locations in Dachau and Petershausen.

Dachau / Petershausen - “Being mobile means being able to participate in the opportunities and qualities of a region.

We have to design our mobility differently and better than before, ”says Thomas Höbel, spokesman for the board of Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Dachau.

With the new offer, Volksbank Raiffeisenbank is taking this task seriously.

Three vehicles at three fixed locations

The concept called "Zeitwärts" provides that the vehicles can be picked up at three fixed locations and must also be brought back there.

On the one hand, this is necessary because the electric vehicles have to be reconnected to the reserved charging station when they are returned.

The organizers also expect a lower user frequency compared to large cities, which does not allow vehicles to be parked anywhere in the vicinity.

The locations of the rental electric vehicles are in Dachau at the Volksbank Raiffeisenbank (Augsburger Strasse 33 - 35), in Petershausen the branch of the Volksbank Raiffeisenbank (Bahnhofstrasse 19) and the town hall (Bürgermeister-Rädler-Strasse 1).

If you want to rent a vehicle, you pay an hourly and kilometer tariff during the day, and there are flat rates at night and on the weekend.

Before citizens can use one of the e-cars, they have to validate their driver's license, which can be done online, in the town hall's citizens' office or in the Volksbank Raiffeisenbank.

This model was immediately interesting for the community of Petershausen, as they were already considering setting up a car sharing project.

The project opens up the opportunity to “design mobility in all its facets in a creative, intelligent and networked way”, emphasizes Mayor Marcel Fath (FW).

Petershausen does without a company car

Because the town hall administration also participates in car sharing and was thus able to forego the purchase of a company car.

The Renault-Zoe, which is parked at the town hall, is used by town hall employees in the mornings; the rest of the time, the vehicle is available to everyone as a rental car.

So Petershausen residents can try out an electric vehicle or even do without a second car thanks to this offer, according to the town hall chief.

The municipality provides a covered parking space plus a charging station for “their” vehicle at the town hall.

Petershausen also contributes 400 euros per month to the vehicle costs for use as a company car as part of the cooperation agreement.

The municipal council unanimously approved the contract and cost sharing at its most recent meeting.

The first experiences with the vehicle are apparently good.

"It works perfectly", reported the town hall chief in the meeting of a first test drive.

Two-year test phase

The car sharing project by Volksbank Raiffeisenbank and the Petershausen community is initially designed for a two-year test phase.

The aim of the initiators is to establish the offer and then expand it to additional locations.

Other vehicles such as cargo pedelecs or e-bikes can also be integrated into the system.

Expansion of the project is conceivable

There will be an interim report after just twelve months, said Mayor Fath.

The town hall chief is interested to see “how car sharing works in a rural community with a S-Bahn connection”.

If the demand is high and the processing is reliable, Fath would also be in favor of expanding car sharing with e-vehicles.

And regardless of this, a so-called mobility base is also planned in Petershausen in the future Rosensiedlung, i.e. a station where e-bikes and e-cars can then be rented.

For the current e-car sharing under the “Zeitwärts” brand, there is information on tariffs as well as videos on collection and return at www.zeitwaerts-mobil.de