Skip to main content

Berg Insight: free floating car sharing served 5.6m members 2017

Free floating car sharing services utilised 40,000 vehicles and served 5.6 million members in 2017, according to a report released by Swedish internet of things firm Berg Insight. The study also forecasted that membership of the service will reach 14.3 million using around 102,000 vehicles by the end of 2022. This service allows members to pick up and drop-off cars anywhere within a designated area where parking is allowed. Users can access available cars without prior booking or be required to schedule
April 20, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Free floating car sharing services utilised 40,000 vehicles and served 5.6 million members in 2017, according to a report released by Swedish internet of things firm 3849 Berg Insight. The study also forecasted that membership of the service will reach 14.3 million using around 102,000 vehicles by the end of 2022.


This service allows members to pick up and drop-off cars anywhere within a designated area where parking is allowed. Users can access available cars without prior booking or be required to schedule a return time.

The operational model presents challenges for carsharing operators such as car fleet rebalancing across operating areas to ensure availability, higher capital investments in car fleets as well as parking management.

Berg Insight also revealed that most carsharing organisations use station-based networks with roundtrip rental which requires users to return a vehicle to the same station where it was accessed.

Martin Svegander internet of things analyst at Berg Insight, said: “Free floating carsharing is now available in about 20 countries and roughly 55 cities worldwide. Europe and North America so far represent the vast majority of free floating carsharing members worldwide. In Europe, free floating services accounted for more than 65 percent of the carsharing membership at year-end 2017."

“Examples of additional markets that have introduced free floating carsharing services include Russia, China, New Zealand and Brazil. Besides free floating carsharing schemes backed by the major carmakers BMW DriveNow and Daimler Car2go, some specialist CarSharing Organisations (CSOs) in Europe and North America have also started to offer this operational model. Examples of CSOs that offer free floating services include Enjoy in Italy, GreenMobility in Denmark and Evo Car Share in Canada. Recently, BMW and Daimler announced the merger of their mobility service businesses that is anticipated to create a leading venture that includes free floating carsharing services and other shared mobility services”, Svegander added.

The report brochure can be downloaded %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external here false http://www.berginsight.com/ReportPDF/ProductSheet/bi-vending3-ps.pdf false false%>.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • PSC Solar to implement EV chargers in Africa
    November 8, 2018
    PSC Solar, the research and development subsidiary of PSC Industries, will deploy electric vehicle (EV) chargers across four African nations, according to media reports. Chargers will be installed in Nigeria, Ghana, Niger and Benin in preparation for the arrival of EVs. Patrick Owelle, CEO of the PSC Solar, says governments all over the world are starting to ban diesel and petrol engines due to climate change and pollution and that Africa must also take a position on the issue. He says PSC’s charg
  • ITS European Congress: call for contributions
    September 23, 2019
    Ertico – ITS Europe is calling for session proposals and papers for the 14th ITS European Congress, which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal on 18-20 May 2020. Themed ‘ITS: The Game Changer’, the Congress will look in particular at data, focusing on areas such as connected and automated mobility, and new mobility services, as well as transport network design and operations. A welcome message from European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, explains: “The Congress will also specifically look at other to
  • Early bird registrations open for ITS Europe
    March 20, 2019
    ITS Europe has opened early bird registrations for this year’s congress taking place in Eindhoven from the 3-6 June. Under the theme ‘Fulfilling ITS Promises’, the European Programme Committee is presenting seven topics. These include deploying new mobility services – from experiments to experience; a breath of fresh air; connected, cooperative and automated mobility; enhancing the efficiency of freight transport; enablers of digital infrastructure; transport network operations; and disruption start-ups &
  • Here beats Google as world’s leading location platform, says Ovum
    August 23, 2018
    Here Technologies has toppled Google as the world’s leading location platform, according to a new report. The Dutch mapping company’s price plan appears more developer-friendly and competitive than the Google Maps model, says analyst Ovum. Location Platform Index: Mapping and Navigation ranked 14 major location platform vendors according to their mapping and technology as well as the size of their reach across the developer communities and industries. Here’s Freemium model is intended to lower price