Carsharing in cities: will electric vehicles change the business? A comparison between France and Japan

Since the beginning of the 2000's, carsharing systems are developing fast in many cities in the world, as alternatives to car ownership. The aim of this paper is to see how these systems which are now called to play a greater role in cities to encourage a reduction of car use, are impacted by the emergence of EVs. Two different systems can be identified. The ‘traditional' one offers users to pick up a car in a specific station (in a parking lot or close to home) to do round trips they cannot do by other means of transport (public transport, cycling or walking). The ‘technological' one benefits from the ITS development to favor instant rent, through a dense network of stations all over the city, on the basis of one-way trips. Carsharing appears to be a good opportunity for the visibility of electric cars (showcases), and can be adapted for small clean trips in the city. In Japan, as well as in France, many companies are appearing to propose e-car sharing services, with the development of recharging stations for EVs parking. But often, these vehicles are small ones and will not satisfy the diversity of the demand of customers. The paper analyses the consequences of introducing EVs for carsharing, on the nature of the market (type of uses), trying to make an arbitration between the advantages of clean vehicles, the trip demand from citizens and the institutional and technological constraints.