Carsharing is one of many car-based mobility services that have become available for people that want to complement other modes of transportation with car-based mobility occasionally.
The number of users of carsharing services worldwide is forecasted to grow from 50.4 million people in 2018 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.1 percent to reach 227.1 million people in 2023, according to a new research report by IoT analyst firm Berg Insight. The report forecasts that the number of cars used for carsharing services will grow at a CAGR of 29.2 percent from 332,000 at the end of 2018 to 1.2 million at the end of 2023.
Examples of other car-based mobility services include traditional car rental, carpooling, ridesharing, taxi and ridesourcing services. Carsharing is a decentralised car rental service focusing on short term rentals. CarSharing Organisations (CSOs) offer members access to a fleet of shared cars 24/7 from unattended self-service locations.
Usage is billed by the minute/hour and by distance driven, with rates that include fuel, insurance and maintenance. Today, most CSOs use station-based networks with roundtrip rental. This operational model requires members to return a vehicle to the same designated station from which it was accessed.
Some CSOs have also started to offer one-way carsharing that enables users to return the car to any station operated by the CSO. Another model that is rapidly gaining in popularity is free floating carsharing, which enables members to pick up and drop off cars anywhere within a designated area.
Leading vendors of hardware and software platforms enabling carsharing services include INVERS, Convadis, Omoove, Wunder Mobility, OTA Keys, Vulog, Ridecell, Targa Telematics and Mobility Tech Green. Several carsharing technology vendors are also targeting the emerging corporate carsharing market which can be used by corporations to increase corporate car pool availability and reduce mobility costs.
Carsharing services are offered by specialist carsharing companies, car rental companies, carmakers, as well as other players such as public transport operators. In February 2019, Daimler and BMW formally merged Car2go and DriveNow under the SHARE NOW brand. The Car2go app rebranded to SHARE NOW this November and the integration work will continue in 2020, starting in cities where both Car2go and DriveNow are present.
Other carmakers including Volkswagen (WeShare), PSA Group (Free2Move) and Volvo Cars (M) have also launched new carsharing initiatives in 2018–2019. Car rental CSOs include Ubeeqo (owned by Europcar Mobility Group), Sixt Share (Sixt) as well as Zipcar (owned by Avis Budget Group).
Source: Berg Insight
