Il car sharing it is a decidedly growing phenomenon also in our country. By now all the big Italian cities such as Milan, Turin, Rome, Florence and Bologna offer one or more share mobility services dedicated to cars but also to two wheels.
Sharing, which was born mainly to meet the environment, has evolved, and true to its primary purpose, has become also electric. The driving feelmoreover, from the only means to be shared, it has become one of the possibilities; in fact, there are also sharing services motorcycles e bicycles.
But what what's this actually car sharing and how does it work?
Where it was born
Car sharing, more or less as we know it now, It is born in the 80 years in Switzerland and in Germany at a time when environmental sentiments were starting to be very present in society. Thus, you can deduce the main purpose of the initiative: reduce the number of cars on the road and the respective smog emission. In Italy the development of car sharing arrived late compared to the rest of Europe; It's 2000 when we start to see a possible path for car sharing. ICS (Car Sharing Initiative) was born in 2001, with the contribution of the Ministry of the Environment, which brings together six municipalities.
What are the advantages of car sharing?
Economic – It is in doubt: the sharing service is cheaper. With sharing problems are avoided that a vehicle entails: road tax, insurance, coupons, car maintenance, etc. Pay solo the service, the effective use of the vehicle; generally the cost, which obviously varies from service to service, is compared to the minutes of use (about 20 to 30 cents a minute) or kilometers. Furthermore, the cost may vary according to the period and according to the promotions that the suppliers can offer. With car sharing, therefore, we avoid many of the problematic aspects of our means of transport but we do not give up its comfort.
Ecological – We have already said it, car sharing is nato its to support the environment and meet the needs of a changing society, which is more attentive to the surrounding world. One might think that the car and the environment cannot go hand in hand, but this is a mistake. There are two reasons: the number of cars, if shared, in circulation decrease as a result and the car sharing services it makes available electric cars, Then less polluting.
Few worries – Another of the advantages of car sharing is vehicle management. The maintenance of a vehicle is essential, in addition to being economically important, it is necessary to avoid unpleasant unexpected events during the use of the vehicle. Those who offer the car sharing service also take care of maintenance, making us feel freer, free from the usual worries: petrol, recharging (for electric cars), oil changes, tire checks, etc.
Electric sharing mobility takes a step forward
Il Car sharing is pointing more and more in the direction of electric vehicles. This is also because electric vehicles for private individuals are spreading. Proof of this is the launch of services such as E-GAP, a mobile operator that provides a recharge to electric vehicles wherever they are. The problem of recharging the vehicle for sharing does not exist, because it is the suppliers themselves (most of the time) who take care of it.
Electric car and scooter sharing respect the environment more and respect it enormously. Let's take a few numbers in hand to understand how ecological an electric motor is compared to traditional ones. According to data shared by Askoll, a company that produces electric motors for household appliances and for scooters, their electric scooter (supplied among other things to eCooltra and MiMoto) makes it possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90% (CO2).
A comparison is necessary to understand the differences between electric and non-electric. Askoll's scooter produces 7 g/km of CO2, while a 50 cc endothermic motorcycle reaches 70 of CO2. A utility car, on the other hand, reaches (and abundantly exceeds) 100 g/km of CO2.
How does it work?
Existing car sharing services offer the same thing but with differences, starting from the car available. But they all work the same way.
First of all you have to choose one of the services and then register; you can do this by downloading the application of the chosen service directly onto your smartphone. Obviously you must enter your data and a credit card to which the cost will be charged. To start driving a car, open the map on the application and find the vehicle closest to you that you can use. Once chosen, with a special code you can unlock the machine. The procedures are all similar and each application will show you how to do it.
When you have reached your destination, you can park your car where it is most convenient for you (attention: fines for parking outside the permitted areas will invariably be charged to you), or in special car parks (depends on the chosen operator). Put the keys back where you found them and before leaving, remember to check inside the car to avoid forgetting anything.
Once everything is complete, you will receive an email on your mobile phone with the payment made.
Find your way around the various electrical and non-electric services
Car sharing unfortunately it is not foreseen in all of Italy and often, as in the case of Rome, not all districts of a city are covered by the service; electric car sharing is most affected by this lack. They are usually the bigger cities, the provincial capitals, to be covered, but to be sure that your city has a car sharing service you will have to check manually on the websites of those who offer it, or you can consult the mapping made by ICS.
As for electric car and scooter sharing, you can also consult the table below which shows the suppliers by city.
Useful apps – If there are car sharing services in your city, the only thing to do is find a means of transport that you can use, but sometimes it can be really hard. To help us in the enterprise there are some Apps, among these Urbic e Free2Move.
They provide mapping of the vehicles available around us, making everything more direct and simple. All you have to do is synchronize the Apps with the accounts of the car or scooter sharing services you registered for see the nearest available vehicles. The usefulness lies in the fact that you will see the vehicles of all the suppliers, being able to evaluate the means of transport and the offers.
