Opportunities and Obstacles for EV Car Sharing
As the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) accelerates, electric car clubs and car-sharing offer opportunities to make EVs more affordable, to better achieve environmental objectives, and to address anxiety around charging availability and accessibility.
Driving electric through a car club saves members the up-front costs of purchasing vehicles that are still more expensive than their fossil-fuelled counterparts. Shared vehicles also address the environmental concerns of users who recognise the need to reduce car use and ownership, no matter how cars are powered. However, whilst new research found increased demand for electric compared to conventional car sharing, particularly among those who would be reliant on public charging, a lack of funding for accessible and reliable charging infrastructure for shared EVs could prevent this demand from being met.
Dr Hannah Budnitz worked with the shared mobility charity, CoMoUK to pool their research and publish this briefing note: Opportunities and Obstacles for EV Car Sharing. It includes new findings from data collected for the Innovate UK funded research project, Park and Charge, on preferences for EV uptake and shared public charging. Dr Budnitz, CoMoUK, as well as EZ-Charge and Oxfordshire County Council who were partners in the previous research hope that these findings demonstrate the importance of separate policy and financial support for shared EVs and shared EV charging. More than just driving electric, sharing electric has the potential to decarbonise road transport more quickly and more inclusively.
Opportunities and Obstacles for EV Car Sharing
Sharing electric has the potential to decarbonise our road transport systems more quickly and inclusively but a new briefing note by Dr Hannah Budnitz highlights whilst the demand for EV car sharing is on the rise a lack of funding for accessible and reliable charging infrastructure for shared EVs is preventing the demand from being met.
