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

  • ChargePoint to provide EV chargers at Morrisons stores
    April 1, 2019
    ChargePoint Services is to install its GeniePoint Network electric vehicle (EV) chargers across all Morrisons supermarkets in the UK. ChargePoint says its 50-100kW rapid chargers will allow customers to refuel their EV in around 20 minutes. The firm’s managing director Alex Bamberg says: “By offering another useful local service, customers are provided with choice for grocery, café and comfort stops, and green vehicle refuelling.” The first chargers will be running by the end of this month and 100 are e
  • Waze joins forces with EENA in Europe-wide public safety pilot project
    April 6, 2017
    EENA, the European Emergency Number Association, announces a data-sharing partnership with Waze, the free, real-time crowd-sourced traffic and navigation app powered by the drivers. Waze users who drive with the app turned on passively contribute traffic and other road data to other Waze users. They can also actively share road reports on incidents that could affect others. The project aims to evaluate how this crowd-sourced anonymous data can be used in emergency management to improve response opera
  • First meeting of the ITS America Leadership Circle held at ITS America 2013
    April 22, 2013
    The ITS America Leadership Circle held their inaugural meeting Sunday morning, bringing together leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss how the broader community can work more closely together to solve transportation issues.
  • Waze partners with Esri to provide live traffic alerts in US
    July 23, 2018
    Waze's live alert data is now available in location intelligence company Esri’s ArcGIS marketplace. The service is available to members of the Waze Connected Citizens programme. The sharing of publicly-available traffic and road condition information is intended to help governments make infrastructure decisions and improve the efficiency of incident response. Through the agreement, Waze’s live feed of mapped traffic alerts and information on accidents, congestion and street damage is supported by Arc