Insights Interview on Station-Based Car Sharing with cambio

The European car sharing market is complex, featuring a diverse range of business models implemented on the streets. Operators employ various strategies, such as station-based services, peer-to-peer car sharing, and free-floating services, to address different use cases with distinct service. In addition, the European car sharing market is one of the largest and the most complex in the world. To address and explain some of these complexities, INVERS publishes their INVERS Mobility Barometer on “European Car Sharing 2025”. This 76-page report helps car sharing operators quickly understand key market dynamics, insights, and trends.

Table of Contents

• Current EV fleet and changes over time
• Differences in electrification across markets
• Challenges for further EV rollout
• Policy support for further electrification

What does your current electric vehicle fleet look like? How has it changed over time?

Our electric vehicle journey started in 2011 with the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Early on, we realized electric vehicle bookings needed more than just time slots – so we began guaranteeing a minimum range for every electric car booking, and at cambio we still hold ourselves to that today, because a car with an empty battery is not the reliable mobility we are committed to offer. Small yet fully featured cars are our backbone, the Renault Zoe fulfills just that and powered our first scaling phase thanks to its reliability. More recently, we’ve leaned into models that also exist as combustion engine versions with automatic drivetrain to make switching easier for customers – especially the Opel Corsa. We also use estates and vans where it fits. We’ve grown our electric car fleet to nearly 800 vehicles, driven by conviction, but future growth largely hinges on strong municipal support and the availability of cars more suitable for carsharing.

How does your fleet electrification differ across markets? What can we learn from your most successful markets?

Electrification looks very different by city. In our most mature locations, roughly one in three cars is electric – and that’s where things get tricky and the real learning starts. Many operational challenges only surface at higher EV shares: logistics across stations, peak-time availability, and edge cases that don’t fit neat playbooks. The key success factor is efficiency driven by software. We tightly integrate the customer app, booking system, and fleet operations, using live vehicle and charging data (state of charge, charging status) to automate decisions and handle exceptions quickly.

What’s your biggest challenge for further EV rollout?

Our biggest challenge is making high electric vehicle shares work in every neighborhood by covering all use cases. Inner-city trips are straightforward, and regional trips are addressed by our guaranteed-range approach. Long-distance travel, however, imposes tougher requirements: higher real-world range, strong fast-charging performance, and comfort at motorway speeds. During holiday periods, it’s common for more than two-thirds of our fleet to be “on vacation” with users – so if our electric cars aren’t vacation-ready, we can’t meet demand. The takeaway: we need vehicles that reliably meet long-distance requirements. Today, those electric vehicles typically come at roughly double the total cost of comparable combustion engine models. That cost gap is the primary bottleneck to scaling electrification further, even with strong municipal support.

What policy support does cambio need in order to further electrify its fleet?

Carsharing works best when stations are close to demand and clearly visible – so designated on-street spots are crucial. To electrify these prime locations, we need municipalities to back station electrification in public space. A strong reference is the “Bremen model”: the city provides and manages the core site infrastructure, while the carsharing operator installs its own wall boxes that integrate with its backend and can be removed or replaced if operators change. Without that kind of support, electrification becomes a slow, non-scaling exercise – chasing sites with the right legal setup, a willing landlord, and grid access, often far from where demand is. To ensure the drivetrain transition doesn’t undermine the broader transport transition, municipalities must enable carsharing charging infrastructure on public ground.

Further insights into the European car sharing market

Thank you, Paul, for sharing your expert insights.

For more information and interesting findings about European car sharing, we encourage readers to check out our 76-page INVERS Mobility Barometer on “European Car Sharing 2025” with more expert interviews as well as insights from national car sharing associations. To discover more from cambio, please visit their website.