The emergence of car sharing services began with the founding of Zipcar in 1999. Since then, car sharing has taken off across the world due to its flexibility when compared with traditional car rental and carpooling services. Some well-known car sharing operations include Autolib, a French-based venture that has been expanding aggressively, and the popular micro-transportation program in Hangzhou, China. By 2016, the global car sharing market is expected to exceed 15 million members with over 260,000 vehicles in service, according to Topology Research Institute (TRI), a division of TrendForce. A car share vehicle can replace up to 9~13 private vehicles, and with this as a basis, TrendForce further estimates that car sharing will be able to replace 2.34~3.38 million private vehicles worldwide by 2016. These preliminary projections indicate steady demand growth for this transportation solution in the near future. “The car sharing market witnessed amazing growth in membership and vehicles in 2014, with Europe and Asia as the main growth drivers,” said Eric Chang automotive electronics analyst at TrendForce. Europe accounts for about half of the global market since car sharing originated there. More importantly, the development of European car sharing programs incorporate xEVs (plug-in vehicles), and this fits into the environmental directives of numerous countries in the region. As for Asia’s car sharing market, the growth momentum primary comes from China because the country’s public transportation networks have yet to reach the outer edges of cities and towns. Furthermore, local governments have made the application of vehicle license plates costly and difficult in recent years, turning car sharing into the best alternative to buying cars for Chinese citizens. “Car sharing offers many benefits to users,” said Chang. “It is more convenient than commuting via public transports and has greater time flexibility versus traditional car rental services. Moreover, users do not have to worry about taxes and maintenance costs, and they can return vehicles at different locations. On the whole, car sharing has significant cost-performance advantage over other transportation methods, including carpooling.” TrendForce Press Center Copyright Notice TrendForce grants you a limited license to use and/or republish any of the press releases on TrendForce Press Center for any legitimate media purpose (including copying and redistributing the content of press releases in any format and via any outlets), provided that you follow these license terms: 1. Reference TrendForce as the source on your works, or include a hyperlink to the original release on the TrendForce site. 2. Do not modify any press release wording, or maliciously alter its related information. Users are subject to any civil or criminal liabilities if the information displayed in the copy or redistribution of press releases is inconsistent with the original materials on TrendForce Press Center. 3. Do not modify or add hyperlinks, including but not limited to adlinks, within the press release. The authorization of press releases on TrendForce Press Center does not grant users the right to suggest, approve or endorse their value-added derivatives on behalf of this body. If your citations of press releases contain mistakes and/or have information missing, TrendForce may, in its sole discretion, direct you to remove the content distributed via TrendForce from your site at any time and for any reason, and you agree to comply with such request.
There are more than 250 million vehicles on US highways today, but that number could drop extremely quickly if these researchers are correct about the growth of car sharing. According to researchers at TrendForce, the global car-sharing market is expected to reach 15 million users and include 260,000 vehicles by next year. This may not seem like much, however each shared vehicle can replace from 9 to 13 private vehicles, according to the report. The researchers also estimate that car sharing will be able to replace some 2.43 to 3.38 million private vehicles globally by 2016. Related research in the US at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute reported earlier this year that self-driving cars could cut the need for vehicles by as much as 43% in the US, clearly not good news for automakers.