The future of corporate car sharing

Abstract

Our contemporary society faces serious social and environmental challenges due to the increasing usage of automobiles. However, researchers have suggested that stimulating the acceptance of car sharing is a promising solution for dealing with these issues. Therefore, the goal of this graduation project was to support the car sharing company Greenwheels in growing its corporate car sharing business. In order to accomplish this goal, an innovation strategy for Greenwheels was created.
 The innovation strategy was constructed by executing a considerable amount of internal and external analyses. The resulting insights established the foundation of a future vision for corporate car sharing in 2025. This future vision describes what needs to be achieved by the innovation strategy, in order for Greenwheels to develop a future proof corporate car sharing service. The future vision is defined as: "Realising a personalised, zero emission, corporate car sharing service, with a motivated and knowledgeable community of users."  In order for Greenwheels to achieve this future vision, three design solutions were developed. These design solutions will be implemented at different points in time, building onto each other and thereby creating valuable synergies. The proposed solutions are: Experience Workshop: An interactive workshop day for new users, offered as an additional service to corporate clients. Unity platform: An online car sharing platform based on gamification and online learning in order to train and motivate the end-users over a longer period of time. Smart Shared Fleet: Optimising the shared car fleet by utilising bi-directional charging technology, connected car technology and personalisation of the car sharing service. The implementation of these solutions is presented in the form of a tactical roadmap. This roadmap provides an actionable step-by-step approach for moving towards the desired future vision of 2025. It does so by presenting a comprehensive overview of the main value propositions, the value created for different stakeholders, the features of the design solutions, the required technology and data streams, the corresponding revenue streams and the internal and external resources that are needed. Additionally, one of the design solutions was further conceptualised in order to showcase a tangible example. The next steps for Greenwheels include: estimating the total market demand more accurately, creating validated revenue models, establishing new partnerships and further refining the design solutions through extensive user-testing.