Sharing can be modern, sustainable and sometimes economical. Especially when it comes to car sharing. A real tool to “reorient” corporate mobility. And to get a better understanding of its benefits we studied the pilot project of carsharing in Bergamo launched by Renault’s Mobilize Share brand.
Carsharing is an old story, at least in Germany. At the end of 1990, the “Stadtteil Auto Carsharing” was founded in Aachen. Although the phenomenon did not take off immediately, several companies were founded. They specialized in the mobility needs of individuals, but did not take interest in those of companies. Today the “Stadtteil Auto Carsharing” still exists but is known as “Cambio”. This organization which gathers many carsharing actors has recently been joined by the Renault group and more particularly by two of its entities. Mobilize, a Renault’s brand specialized in mobility services, and glide.io, the group’s start-up that created the carsharing software.
Mobility, Energy, Data
LIt was at IAA 2021 that Renault launched its mobility service brand, known as Mobilize. But what services does Mobilize offer?
- Recharging solutions and energy storage systems for municipalities and companies;
- A car-sharing solution, to allow drivers to access vehicles independently;
In order to meet the needs of car sharing, the Mobilize Share brand launched, in early summer 2021, a pilot project at the Renault Oberti dealership in Bergamo, northern Italy. The idea was to create mobility in Bergamo and neighboring municipalities for people who don’t have a car, don’t want to have one anymore or want to reorganize their company car fleet without having to rent or buy cars and without having to worry about the maintenance and cleaning and, in the end, the return or sale of said vehicles.
In Bergamo, we met Barbara Oberti and Renato Sarli from the Renault Oberti car dealership. They are the “car exporters”, so to speak. Also present was Edmondo Pietranera, Head of Mobilize Italia and Denis Fragnoli, the contact person for companies with questions about e-mobility. To answer questions, Paolo Colurcio, CEO of glide.io was accompanied by Luc Habauzit, responsible for operations. “We are the company behind the car-sharing software used by Mobilize Share, among others. In fact, the owner of glide.io has always been Renault,” explains Paolo Colurcio, who works in Paris with a team of about 20 people.
German hardware technology
For the operation of the Renault Zoé in Bergamo, especially the opening and closing of the doors, glide.io collaborates with the company Invers from Siegen. Its founder, Uwe Latsch, also CTO of the company, invented the keyless entry technology for vehicles in the mid-1990s. Invers is still a forerunner and the basis for a multitude of sharing solutions, whether for private use or for company car sharing.
The vehicle key, if required, is located in the glove box to allow temporary stops on the route. The telematics boxes are also the basis for sending data from the vehicle back to the smartphone and the operator’s back office, and then enable trip analysis. This works with Mobilize and many other sharing service providers around the world, and similarly for pool vehicles at any company that relies on enterprise car sharing software from one of the many providers.
More than 2000 cars are managed by Mobilize Share – in Italy. In Europe, Renault plans to integrate about 6,000 dealerships in addition to Oberti’s. They are not only the starting point of a keyless and digitized mobility solution, they also continuously take care of the well-being of the vehicles, as confirmed by the dealership manager. Like the Oberti one, many dealerships, not only in Italy, have recognized the potential that Mobilize Share can bring to businesses, people and the environment.
Its marketing director, Renato Sarli, is also convinced that all parties involved are benefiting. According to Renault, more than 15,000 vehicles are now connected to the platform throughout Europe. In order to increase the use of the vehicles, specialists are developing artificial intelligence algorithms that can better predict user demand and allocate vehicles more efficiently. Because in car sharing, downtime means lost money.
Coming soon to Germany
Bergamo companies that use Renault vehicles linked to the Mobilize program also enjoy great freedom. They can choose the size of their models, agree on vehicle cleaning solutions and many other customizations. Oberti also puts a laminated brochure in each vehicle that explains in pictures and text how the Renault Zoe works. Another leaflet explains how the vehicles can be recharged at public charging stations.
Clotilde Delbos, CEO of Mobilize, explained during the panel discussion at the IAA Mobility in Munich in autumn 2021: “The world of mobility is changing. And companies also have different requirements. They want to act more sustainably and partly move away from the person-related company car, we now have a complementary approach with Mobilize.”
BA nice prospect that is slowly becoming reality in Germany since January 2022. Fabian Rangol, Head of Mobilize Germany, said that at the moment the focus is still on the B2C sector, but that B2B solutions are also “being discussed internally” in this country. From the participants’ point of view, the pilot phase in Bergamo is a success and an increase in the number of car-sharing vehicles on the road is expected. In the opinion of the experts, company car sharing has a real potential in Germany in the coming years to reduce costs in companies and even, in the long term, to reduce the volume of traffic.
If you want to know more about carsharing and what advantages it can bring to your fleet why don’t you have a look at our solutions page or you can reach out to us through the below link
Have a nice trip with glide.io !
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