Car sharing of electric vehicles Move About AB, Scandinavia
Move About is the world’s first and largest car sharing fleet exclusively using electrical vehicles. It started operating in Oslo in 2008, Norway, and in 2009 - in Sweden, including Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Stockholm. It is now initiating operations in Denmark and Germany. Its total fleet is about 100 of purely electric cars of various brands. Move About provides car sharing services to 3000 customers in Norway and 1000 in Sweden, out of which 70% are organisations and 30% are private users including the private use by employees in the companies. The goal of the company is to have a fleet of 400 cars across the Scandinavian countries. Annual turnover is ca. EUR 325 000, with expansion targets of 100% per year.
The cities of Helsingborg, Gothenburg and Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo in Norway; Copenhagen in Denmark(Sweden)
Sweden
EU countries (
Sweden )
SI Process
Start Date:
2007
End Date:
2008
Start Date:
2009
End Date:
Ongoing
Move About was founded in 2007, starting to operate in Oslo in 2008. Since 2009 Move About has started offering its services in Sweden, including Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Stockholm. It is now (2014) initiating operations in Copenhagen, Denmark and looks into exploring the German market.
Link to H2020 SI Priorities
Climate action by sustainable lifestyle
Climate change mitigation solutions
Eco-solutions to reduce raw materials use
SI Type
Organisational / Business model - Selling mobility service through a car sharing scheme is a new business model for satisfying mobility needs as opposed to regular car ownership or the use of taxi services. In addition, the business model is built around electric vehicles, which require different infrastructure from traditional fossil fuel based vehicles.
Service / Process - The innovative idea is in providing a service of mobility to the users instead of them owning a car. The company founders assumed that by sharing a vehicle, a better management (range, battery condition etc.) and higher use time of each vehicle per day would be possible.
SI Objectives
To provide fun, convenient, and cost effective personal mobility, while laying claim to the least possible amount of energy, production resources and public space
To improve the living quality in the city by achieving zero emissions, reduced noise, fewer vehicles on the roads, and less traffic
To be a part a sustainable urban mobility movement that compliments public transportation, bike share programmes and other initiatives to provide an alternative to private vehicle ownership
To provide electric car sharing mobility and leverage this for an improved public image of the company’s customers
To reduce the vehicle fleet of corporate customers without sacrificing mobility
SI Origin
Norway was a favourable location for Move About’s business case due to a comprehensive set of governmental support policies including tax waivers for electric vehicles, a waiver of road tolls and access to bus lanes, and a publicly subsidised charging infrastructure. When the Nissan Leaf became available in 2010, the company started using it. This helped to improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs. It also allowed Move About to enter the Swedish market, which has higher safety requirements than the Norwegian (the Leaf is a better option compared to the Think and the Buddy, which were used before). In Norway Move About continues to operate other vehicles too.
SI Factors of success
Economic - Reduced costs of the system through optimised fleet management; zero risk for the customer through a service offer; low prices of the service
Political - Favourable policies in place in Norway for the business start up (see A11)
Social - Improved convenience for the customers (high level of satisfaction reported in regular customer surveys): via booking ahead, the car would be heated to room temperature by the time the user arrived (higher ranges and a comfortable ride from the first minute); managing the fleet according to the size of the organisation and its mobility needs; covering services from booking to battery management and maintenance.
Ethical - A strategic choice of green PR as a selling point in Sweden: targeting organisations with a will to be environmental pioneers or early adopters (due to economic limitations for electric vehicles to penetrate the mass market Sweden); an improved public image for investing in green mobility.
Spatial / Urban - Collaboration with other private and public actors: customers who take it upon them to provide the infrastructure; energy companies that provide the electricity necessary for charging the vehicles; proactive municipalities that are customers and/or support Move About in many ways; the national rail company that advertised combined train/electric vehicle services.
Sources
Primary - Official web-page:
http://www.moveabout.net/index.php/about/
Swedish web-page on Move About services in Sweden:
http://www.moveabout.se/
An interview with one of the founders and CEO of Move About Ulf Jacobsson (his contacts are available through the professional network of the country correspondent)
Secondary - A paper by Felix Tilmann Vahle “Servicizing Mobility – car Sharing, Review and Case Studies”, which describes the case of Move About AB in detail and is based on the data available at Move About web-sites and a personal interview with Ulf Jacobsson
