Posted by Michael Mendolia
The highly publicized Autolib’ electric car-sharing program was launched on the streets of Paris last month. Although many other cities have similar programs, the Paris initiative is notably larger – with 250 of the four-seat compact BlueCars already on the road, to be increased to 2,000 by summer. Car-sharing of traditional gasoline-powered vehicles is not new to Paris – Caisse Commune (now operated by Transdev) has been around since 1999, and Mobizen (now operated by Veolia Transport) since 2007 – but in the new program, the Autolib’ cars, which were developed through a collaboration between Italian car designer Pininfarina and Groupe Bolloré, are powered by lithium ion polymer batteries. The program also addresses one of the primary obstacles to the widespread adoption of electric cars – the lack of infrastructure. There are now 1,200 charging stations and parking spaces reserved exclusively for Autolib’ users on Paris streets.
The overall market potential for car sharing (including both traditional and electric vehicles) has been estimated at over $10B ($3B for Europe alone). At this point, the world’s largest player in this relatively new business segment is Zipcar. Headquartered in the US, Zipcar posted revenues of $186 M in 2010 and operates more than 9,000 vehicles in 16 cities in North America and the UK. According to the company, the key factors making a region attractive for car sharing include high population density, existing public transportation infrastructure, a solid or developing middle class, and high costs of car ownership. Based on these criteria, it seems that Paris should be an ideal market for car-sharing. Though Zipcar does not yet have a presence in Paris, its nearest competitor – Hertz on Demand (a division of the traditional car rental company) – already does. Depending on the success of Autolib’ and other car-sharing programs in Paris, we may find other players racing into the French market.
Data sources:
The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/02/le-bluecar-car-share-scheme-paris
MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45553670/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/paris-launch-electric-car-sharing-program/#.TwrgGqXpBss
Association for European Transport: “The Increasing Development of Car-sharing in France” by Robert Clavel and Mailis Floriet (2009).
Zipcar investor information.