Analysis of potential demand and costs for the business development of an electric vehicle sharing service

Nowadays combining electro-mobility with carsharing services that shift private mobility from ownership to service use is viewed as the most promising line of business in sustainable transportation for the next years. In this direction, the present paper focuses on the development of an electric vehicle sharing (EVS) service that integrates various options in the vehicle fleet, namely 2-seat and 4-/5-seat electric cars, as well as electric bikes and electric scooters/motorcycles. Using the members of an academic community as the target users, it examines the potential demand and costs for the development of the business case, starting from the quantification of the user base to the analysis of initial investment cost. To this end, this work employs a population study and a stated preference survey to capture the mobility needs and identify the user profile characteristics and preferences, providing thus useful insight on the implementation of the envisaged system. Based on well-defined criteria, it presents the selected locations of the vehicle pick-up/drop-off points and the composition of the electric vehicle fleet. It further proposes a design of the central charging station as the coordinative center of the service and provides a detailed analysis of the infrastructure and fleet purchase costs.