share – Electromobility in car sharing

Research approach

Scientists from ISOE and the Öko-Institut are studying under which conditions electric cars are more environmentally friendly than cars with a combustion engine by asking users of the car sharing service car2go about their traffic behaviour. Based on driving performance and energy consumption, researchers can determine the environmental impact of the car sharing concept with electric cars. The poll is also focusing on acceptance for the concept, because clients need to cope with a limited range and time-consuming re-charging processes when using electrically powered cars.

Panel design with a control group

The project team questions users of Electro-Smarts at the test site in Stuttgart; in Frankfurt and Cologne they poll drivers of Smarts with combustion engines. In addition, a control group that doesn’t use car sharing at all is being studied. This helps researchers find out – among other things – whether members of the car sharing group are less liable to buy their own car than the control group.

Carbon footprint

The researchers are also determining the environmental impact of car2go in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Stuttgart based on the recorded energy consumption and driving performance. In addition, the team is developing scenarios in order to find out what effect these kinds of mobility services would have if they were extended to include the rest of Germany.

Background

Classical car sharing is already considered to be eco-friendly because several users share a car. Compared to other service providers, car2go has several unique features: A car can’t only be located via a smart phone app and booked on the spot, but after being used can also be parked in a different location than its initial starting point. Now Daimler AG is going one step further. The company is equipping car2go-fleets in Berlin, Ulm, Stuttgart, Amsterdam/Netherlands and San Diego/USA with electric cars.

Project partner

Öko-Institut e.V., Berlin/Germany (project management)

Industry partner

car2go Deutschland GmbH

Funding

The project “Scientific supporting research of car2go with battery electric and conventional vehicles” is being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

Duration

2012/08 – 2017/11