Does Car-Sharing Reduce Car Ownership? Empirical Evidence from Germany

Aaron Kolleck

doi:10.3390/su13137384

Abstract

The sharing economy is making its way into our everyday lives. One of its business models, car-sharing, has become highly popular. Can it help us increase our sustainability? Besides emissions and vehicle miles traveled, one key aspect in the assessment regards the effect of car-sharing on car ownership. Previous studies investigating this effect have relied almost exclusively on surveys and come to very heterogeneous results, partly suggesting spectacular substitution rates between shared and private cars. This study empirically explores the impact of car-sharing on noncorporate car ownership and car markets in 35 large German cities. The analysis draws on publicly available data for the years 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017, including, among others, the number of shared cars per operating mode (free-floating and station-based) and the number of cars owned and registered by private individuals (i.e., excluding company cars). We find that one additional station-based car is associated with a reduction of about nine private cars. We do not find a statistically significant relation between car ownership and free-floating car-sharing. Neither type of car-sharing appears to impact the markets for used and new cars significantly. Given the measurable impacts on car ownership levels, this result is surprising and invites future research to study car-sharing’s impact on the dynamics of car markets.

Highlights

The sharing economy is considered a trend that fundamentally disrupts consumer habits, the organization of value chains, and economic activities
Sustainability 2021, 13, 7384 this approach, we focus on the gap between survey-based car-sharing studies and studies empirically researching the impact of the sharing economy on incumbent industries [8]
This study empirically explores the impact of car-sharing on noncorporate car ownership and car markets in 35 large German cities between 2012 and 2017

Summary

Introduction

The sharing economy is considered a trend that fundamentally disrupts consumer habits, the organization of value chains, and economic activities. Through sharing instead of owning, the sharing economy promises temporary and flexible access to often expensive resources. Car-sharing has been available as a mobility service in many cities worldwide for quite some time [1]. Some of its users see it as an alternative to owning a car [2]. From a societal perspective, shared use of cars can reduce the number of vehicles required to serve mobility demand. This can reduce (external) costs associated with production and relieve notoriously scarce parking capacities. In order to assess these benefits, the decisive question is whether car-sharing represents a substitute for private car ownership

Objectives

Results

Conclusion