From 24 November, 300 smart fortwo electric drive vehicles will be available in Amsterdam in an area of 80 square kilometres, which covers large parts of the city with “hubs” in Zuidas, Arena and IJburg.

Customers can drive with their car2go everywhere during the rental period, but must return to the business area to finish the rental. The vehicles can be picked-up and dropped-off at any public parking spot inside the business area or at one of 36 specially marked car2go parking spots in six “Q-Park” garages in the city centre.

Drivers will have access to more than 250 charging stations in the city area currently, with up to a thousand expected by the end of 2012.

If the battery capacity is lower than 20% at the end of the rental, drivers must take the vehicle to one of the charging stations, which are displayed in the on-board navigation. If the battery level is lower than 40%, drivers will receive 10 free minutes for recharging the car.

Although it’s the fifth city globally to launch a car2go scheme, Amsterdam will bear a new pricing model that will be used for existing and future car2go locations throughout Europe.

Drivers can hire a smart fortwo electric drive for 29 cent per minute or an hourly rate of €12.90 including insurance, taxes, electricity and parking costs. There will be a daily rate of €39. Vehicles parked up will attract a special parking rate of 9 cent per minute (€5.40 per hour).

In Amsterdam, kilometres will not be limited but for other European car2go schemes there will be a charge of 29 cent per km after the first 20km.

The firm added that more than 95% of all car2go rentals will not hit the 20km mark, meaning that ‘for the majority of the customers the new pricing scheme is a great price-cut’.

Commenting on the scheme, Eric Wiebes, alderman for traffic, transportation and air quality of the city of Amsterdam, said: ‘The 300 white smart fortwo electric drive from car2go fit with the commitment of Amsterdam to improve the air quality of the city, focusing particularly on the reduction of the pollution caused by businesses which drive many kilometres in the city like taxi and delivery traffic. Expectations are that many kilometres will be driven with the car2go vehicles and, therefore, it is very positive that they are driven by an electric motor.’