The number of users of carsharing services worldwide is forecasted to grow from 71.9 million people in 2020 at a CAGR of 21.5 percent to reach 190.3 million people in 2025, according to a new research report by IoT analyst firm Berg Insight.
Berg Insight forecasts that the number of vehicles used for carsharing services will grow at a CAGR of 16.0 percent from 463,000 at the end of 2020 to 971,000 at the end of 2025. The carsharing fleet grew 10 percent worldwide in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic but the performance varied on regional level.
“Several carsharing operators’ expansion plans were put on hold during 2020 but are now continued in 2021 instead”, said Martin Svegander, Senior Analyst at Berg Insight. Carsharing operators have in the past year adjusted their operations to accommodate new mobility needs during the COVID-19 pandemic such as longer domestic holiday rentals, short trips replacing public transport and taxi as well as an increased demand for roundtrip rentals as a replacement for car ownership.
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 also 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 telematics platforms enabling carsharing services include INVERS, Convadis, Continental, Octo Telematics, Vulog, Mobility Tech Green, Targa Telematics and Wunder Mobility.
