In 2025, owning a car will be like owning a DVD today. At least that is the view of the CEO of Lyft, Uber's biggest competitor, and it reflects a scenario in which car ownership is being increasingly questioned and the possibilities of carsharing evaluated.
Perhaps in response to passenger transport applications, car sharing has become a worldwide and growing trend.
It is estimated that, in 2023, around 227 million people will be car sharing fans and there will be at least 1,2 million cars available for this modality.
Therefore, in addition to contribute to the reduction of vehicles on the streets, still can improve traffic e generate new business opportunities for companies in the segment.
So let's go deeper into the subject, explain what carsharing is and show how the trend impacts fleet management.
What is carsharing?
How is the carsharing market in Brazil and in the world?
What are its benefits?
How does the trend impact fleet management?
Is it worth investing in carsharing?
What is carsharing?
Carsharing is nothing more than a car-sharing modality that has been gaining more and more followers around the world.
In short, users can rent the vehicles through apps or online platforms.
We see the same examples of the sharing economy in companies like Airbnb, for example.
The transport model is a more economical and sustainable alternative for those who need to travel frequently, but do not want to bear all the costs related to their own car.
In addition, carsharing also contributes to the reduction of traffic and pollution in large cities.
With him, it is possible to choose the most suitable car for each need and pay only for the time of use.
That is, it is a A modern and intelligent option for those looking for practicality and savings on a daily basis.
In practice, there are a few different models of carsharing, each with its particularities:
- round trip: the user rents the car for a certain period of time and needs to return it at the same pick-up location.
- One way: allows the vehicle to be left at another point in the city after use.
- Peer-to-peer: the car is leased directly from another owner.
- Corporate carsharing: aimed at the corporate environment and allows employees to share company vehicles.
Thus, each type of carsharing has its advantages and disadvantages, so it is up to the user to choose the one that best suits their needs.
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How is the carsharing market in Brazil and in the world?
In Brazil, a survey by the Deloitte revealed that 62% of young people no longer think it is necessary to own a vehicle in the future.
Although the carsharing market is relatively new here, it has shown considerable and constant growth in recent years:
- turbo: uses the round-trip model and offers its services in the city of São Paulo.
- Beep Beep: promotes electric car sharing.
- Velo-City: operates in free float mode, which allows the vehicle to be parked anywhere, and operates in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
- moObie: focuses its activities on a peer-to-peer format.
- VEC Itaú: it has electric cars and a structure for recharging the battery, where the user picks up the vehicle at one of the company's stations and returns it at another unit.
Turbi's CEO, Diego Lira, says that carsharing complements the other mobility options.
That's because there's a gap between platforms like Uber and traditional rental that is being bridged by the solution.
For Velo-City founder Daniel Bittencourt, people haven't stopped enjoying driving: they don't like maintenance problems, overhauls and paying for an asset that is idle.
It is no wonder that the global car-sharing market reached a value of US$ 34 billion in 2018, and could reach US$ 103 billion by 2025. As shown by the research Carsharing Marketing & Growth Analysis.
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National panorama of carsharing
As we saw earlier, Brazil also already has its own carsharing cases.
One of the initiatives was taken by businessman Leonardo Domingos, who already had a luxury car rental experience at the helm of the LDS Group and his partner in the project, Paulo Moura.
Urbano's proposal is different from other companies that have already emerged in the country with car sharing projects, guarantees Moura.
“There are three points that differentiate Urbano from all initiatives in Brazil: the approach as a public transport modal, our fleet and the adoption of the free floating model”.
Thus, Urbano's carsharing is another option for these users. This is because the company offers its cars as a new public transport option.
The new generation of young people discredits ownership and uses urban and shared transport as an alternative, many have exchanged their cars for buses or bicycles.
“Despite the different mindset of this generation, it is not Urbano's only audience, but anyone who needs more agile mobility and who believes they have stopped to think about the advantages of the new modal”, highlights Moura.
Another differential of Urbano is the fleet of vehicles offered by them: the vehicles are differentiated and the options vary between combustion vehicles and electric vehicles.
The practice of free floating also weighs heavily in practice: unlike traditional car rental companies, which limit the locations for borrowing and returning the car, Urbano allows shared cars to be rented and left at any point of the electronic fence stipulated by Urbano.
Paulo Moura explains that this is only possible because they work with a network of connected cars, with a mobile application, geofencing (connection between map and object) and other innovations made possible by the Internet of Things.
The main challenge of carsharing in Brazil is the same as in the rest of the world, explains Moura: legislation, bureaucracy caused by the lack of support for research and development of these projects here.
Despite this, the prospects for growth are good: “The carsharing market in Brazil is going to experience great growth in the coming years. Our projections indicate a potential for more than 30.000 shared cars in the country. Considering examples, such as in Europe and Canada, a city with 1,5 million inhabitants holds up to 3.000 cars. And for solving the problem of traffic and pollution, this type of modal has the perfect environment to develop here. We are the leader in this new market and we project to have 1.200 cars in São Paulo in less than 3 years”, believes Moura.
International carsharing panorama
Out there, where the new shared mobility services have been operating for a longer time, the change in behavior has already started to happen.
In the United Kingdom, for example, one third of young families aged up to 34 do not have a vehicle at home. That is, an increase of 20% in 18 years.
This is because alternatives to owning a car are growing at a rapid pace.
For some experts in the automotive sector, ride-hailing and carsharing services will only be the first stages of a great revolution that will culminate in the autonomous cars.
Therefore, mobility is increasingly being seen as a service and, therefore, convenience and ease of access are crucial when choosing a modal.
It is this differential that carsharing companies are trying to leverage all over the world.
Using the latest digital technologies to making mobility more intelligent and solving problems such as idleness of vehicles, the high cost of owning a car and the pollution caused by combustion vehicles.
To get an idea, cars are stopped, on average, 95% of the time. Therefore, during this period, he is totally idle, just taking up space in garages, parking lots or designated spots.
Without a doubt, carsharing is a booming trend. Vancouver, Canada, has more than 3 shared cars, which are used by 2,5 million people.
In Montreal, discussions about car sharing are more advanced.
The city's mobility plan is studying how to integrate carsharing with electric and autonomous vehicles.
The idea is to have several mobility hubs, with complementary offers. Within a radius of 100 meters, the user will have the chance to find a shared car, bike parking, bus, subway and so on.
Therefore, the shared car is a sign of a multimodal future that is already being considered.
Another interesting case is happening in Mexico City. With 9 million cars circulating, the region has one of the worst congestion rates in the world: the population spends, on average, 3 hours a day inside the car.
“We trust society and they have paid us with respect,” said Jimena Pardo, CEO of Carrot, at an event held in Canada.
Recently, a survey carried out with users of this car sharing system in Mexico City revealed that:
- 20% sold their cars
- 74% postponed the decision to buy a vehicle
- 30% are driving less
Similar behavior is also being shared by Zipcar users in the United States.
In a survey carried out by the company, 80% of “zipsters” revealed that they do not own a car and 43% said that they sold theirs after starting to use the service.
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What are its benefits?
A shared car means, on average, 13 fewer cars in traffic, according to the University of California.
For the experts at MIT, when carsharing takes over cities, we'll only need 20% of the vehicles we use today. Can you imagine the impact of this on the structure of urban spaces?
This means more space for pedestrians and cyclists and an opportunity for people to explore the city in a new way.
As a result, users benefit from savings on gasoline, parking fees, maintenance expenses, taxes, vehicle registration, insurance and other fixed monthly costs.
Therefore, we separate some of the main benefits of carsharing:
- Reduces the emission of polluting gases
- Acts together and provides support for public transport
- Provides more predictability for fleet sizing
- Decreases the need for large parking spaces
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How does the trend impact fleet management?
The quest to reduce costs and impacts caused by fleets on the environment is nothing new for managers.
Abroad, carsharing is already an alternative for companies in the sector. This because maintenance, insurance, depreciation and administration costs are reduced with car sharing.
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In addition to economic and environmental benefits, car sharing also offers users greater flexibility.
This is because it is possible to choose the ideal vehicle for each occasion, without major compromises.
For example, if a driver needs a bigger car for a certain job, he can simply reserve a suitable model for that specific task.
isso reduces the need to have multiple vehicle types in the fleet, which can be an advantage for companies that have limited storage space.
Or yet the part of idle vehicles in the fleet can be allocated to carsharing services, which generates more revenue for your company.
As carsharing is based on technology, it is possible to monitor vehicle usage in real time. Therefore, it should not be considered a threat.
Instead of, car sharing can be seen as an opportunity to review, expand or even business partnership.
On average, each vehicle eliminated in fleet management and exchanged for a shared car promotes annual savings of 15 to 20 thousand reais in expenses.
Therefore, the smart mobility solution can bring numerous benefits to both companies and users.
Is it worth investing in carsharing?
The growing appeal for sustainability in transport instigated many companies to look for more efficient alternatives to manage their vehicle fleets.
As we saw throughout the content, carsharing has a number of benefits for fans, including fleet management.
We also pack any the benefits of cost reduction, practicality and profitability draw attention.
So, it is natural that this type of shared economy is gaining more and more space in fleet management.
Therefore, being prepared not to miss business opportunities is vital to stand out from the competition.
Golfleet even prepared a checklist with everything you need to have an economical and efficient management and achieve these results and much more:
- Reduced costs
- Productivity increase
- Decrease in accidents
- Reduction of claims and fines
Therefore, while you are evaluating the possibility of investing or not in carsharing, follow our complete and free material to enhance your fleet management:
