North Sea coastal car sharing grows with CloudBoxx: Flow Carsharing expands its offering to 25 stations 

Flow Carsharing’s electric fleet is now running on CloudBoxx from Invers. The operator from Büdelsdorf near Rendsburg has been offering its customers in Schleswig-Holstein shared electric vehicles since 2021. This year, founder and Managing Director Florian Kolberg is expanding the service from 12 to 25 stations and proving that car sharing works in rural areas – even with electric vehicles. 

Siegen, May 7th, 2024 – The spring of 2024 marks a significant milestone for Flow Carsharing as it embraces CloudBoxx from Invers to seamlessly integrate its growing fleet of EVs into the back end, empower users through its in-house app, and leverage real-time data for efficient management. With stations strategically located across Kiel, Flensburg, Rendsburg, Schleswig, Eckernförde, Büdelsdorf, Fockbek, Silberstedt, Borgstedt, and Ahlefeld-Bistensee, customers can now enjoy flexible and contactless electric car rentals via the app, including convenient one-way trips. In addition to the traditional car sharing business, Flow Carsharing operates its own charging stations to improve the charging infrastructure and offer customers a comprehensive mobility service. 

Managing Director and car rental expert Florian Kolberg developed the idea of electric car sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic, recognizing the shifting mobility landscape and evolving customer needs. He was convinced that car sharing will also work in smaller towns and communities. “A lot is possible in Schleswig-Holstein,” says Kolberg. “And I’m sure that car sharing transcends urban boundaries.”  This confidence is substantiated by recent statistics from the German Carsharing Association, indicating a nationwide growth trend in car sharing. According to its annual February survey, at the beginning of 2024, 1,285 towns and municipalities in Germany were equipped with car sharing, 203 more than in the previous year. The growth is particularly noticeable in small towns in rural areas: 1,127 towns with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants now have a car sharing service. “This trend can also be observed internationally in user expectations,” says Alexander Kirn, CEO of Invers. “According to the latest edition of McKinsey’s Mobility Consumer Survey, 77% of the urban population say that there is a shift from vehicle ownership to vehicle access, and in rural regions the figure is already 53%.” 

In May, Flow Carsharing opens its 12th location in Harislee and will expand by a further 13 stations to a total of 25 locations over the course of the year, as part of the SMILE24 mobility project. Spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport, SMILE24 intends to serve as a model for mobility in rural areas throughout Germany. With funding of more than 36 million euros from federal and state governments, the project aims to implement innovative ideas for an intermodal travel chain for Germany’s most comprehensive local transport service in rural areas. Additional bus lines, shuttles, car-sharing cars and bike-sharing are providing customers with flexible mobility, even if they don’t have their own car. 

In addition to private and business car sharing, Flow Carsharing offers car subscriptions as a mobility solution between vehicle rental and leasing, exclusively featuring electric vehicles. Kolberg acknowledges the challenges of electric vehicle adoption and actively engages in educational initiatives to dispel misconceptions and promote a broader charging infrastructure. Car sharing users should be certain that they can rely on a broad-based charging infrastructure.