Unbundling cars to daily use and infrequent use vehicles—the potential role of car sharing

Abstract

Car sharing is seen as an alternative to car ownership; however, for many households, this option may be unthinkable. In this study, we explore the idea of combining car sharing and vehicle ownership in order to change car purchase behavior to improve the environmental performance of the fleet. We consider the personal vehicle as a bundle of attributes. We look at the distinction between Bdaily use^and Binfrequent useâ ttributes. BInfrequent use^features are those that are only needed occasionally, e.g., a larger trunk, all-wheel drive, seating for 7, and long vehicle range. If the vehicle attributes could be unbundled, the personal vehicle would include only those features needed on a daily basis, with car sharing providing the Binfrequent use^features. We qualitatively explore what the carsharing service would need to look like to cover the Binfrequent use^needs and analyze if the existing services can provide these needs. We base our analysis on literature and interviews with experts and representatives from car sharing and rental car companies in California and Sweden. We find that car sharing today does not cover the needs for unbundling the vehicle. There are not enough Binfrequent use^vehicles available in these services. However, new business models and the growth of peer-to-peer car sharing are already begun to widen the vehicle models available.

Sociodemography, Geography, and Personality as Determinants of Car Driving and Use of Public Transportation

“…Although numerous efforts have been made to promote public transportation in many countries, the car continues to be the dominant mode [4]. The reasons are both instrumental, in terms of saving time and effort (e.g., to be able to participate in different activities), and symbolic in terms of status and identity [5][6][7]. Instrumental motives are more common among people in rural areas, where public transportation is less available [8,9].…”

Carsharing: a systematic literature review and research agenda

“…While technology plays an integral role in all types of carsharing, P2P carsharing relies more than other business models on technological innovations (Julsrud and Farstad, 2020). In particular, P2P carsharing must make booking and key exchange as convenient as possible (Sprei and Ginnebaugh, 2018), and this has become easier with smart locks that allow renters to access a car without having to meet the owner (Münzel et al , 2018). The increased incorporation of technology into carsharing services enhances the value proposition for the customer by making the service more flexible and convenient (Lagadic et al , 2019).…”

Potential Climate Benefits of Digital Consumer Innovations

“…In the mobility domain, limiting or increasing the cost of vehicle use in urban areas encourages active, shared, or public modes with strong health and pollution benefits. Infrastructure provision at a local scale is particularly important, including high-occupancy vehicle lanes or parking zones for shared vehicles (144), electric vehicle charging points (145), appropriate docking stations for bikesharing (146), and an integrated, colocated multi-modal transport system for mobility-as-a-service (147). More generally, policymakers need to build substantive expertise to anticipate and respond to digital innovations, to signal intentions clearly to innovators and investors, and to consistently enforce rules (148).…”