One-way carsharing is a type of

carsharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

that enables users to begin and end their trip at different locations. The pick-up and drop-off locations can be either restricted to traditional rental stations, or can be anywhere within an operational area in what is called ''free-floating carsharing''. One-way carsharing is generally more expensive to run than traditional round-trip carsharing, due to the need for rebalancing the fleet after rentals. Most of one-way carsharing is today based on the free-floating model. As of 2017, free-floating carsharing is available in 55 cities and 20 countries worldwide, with 40,000 vehicles and serving 5.6 million users, with

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and North America representing the majority of the market. In Europe, free floating services represented over 65% of total carsharing membership. Free-floating carsharing is often used for short periods at a time, and rental fees are generally charged by the minute. The world's largest provider of free-floating one-way carsharing is ShareNow, from the merger of DriveNow and

Car2go Share Now GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it is a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe, ...

, owned by BMW and Daimler respectively. Other national operators include Enjoy in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, GreenMobility in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

, Sweden,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, Citybee in the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

GIG Car Share GIG Car Share is a carsharing service in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and Seattle, created by A3 Ventures (a division of the American Automobile Association). The company operates a fleet of Toyota Prius Hybrid vehicles and a ...

in California, and Evo Car Share in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. Additional markets that also have free-floating carsharing services include

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, China,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The service is expected to reach 14.3 million users with more than 100,000 vehicles by the end of 2022. Free-floating carsharing service has high chance of becoming a more integral part of city transportation networks in the future. The increase in existing members' activity and new members' registration were proved through the increased use in proportion with the service’s duration. However, the growth patterns vary among cities and some have reached a saturation point where no increased

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England *The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beac ...

size or additional service needed. Most of them are expected to grow steadily or is ready to start.

References

{{reflist Carsharing