As experience in Europe and North America shows, many nations adopted carsharing as part of an overall strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of increasing private car ownership and individual transport volume in densely populated urban areas. Professionally organised carsharing services separate car use from vehicle ownership and complement the existing network of public and non-motorised transport modes by offering on-demand, self-service, short-term and pay-per-use access to automobiles. Based on these characteristics, carsharing unleashes the potential to reform automobile usage and to significantly contribute to a shift of mobility patterns towards more efficient and sustainable eco-modes – A change that appears to be a necessity to reduce air pollution and space consumption in Chinese megacities.
While the impact of carsharing on urban transport and environment is gaining growing importance on an international scale, carsharing systems in China are still in an initial phase. Since comprehensive large-scale carsharing systems could contribute to the sustainable development of China’s urban transport sector, the GIZ Working Paper “Carsharing in China – A Contribution to Sustainable Urban Transport?”, prepared and published by the Sino-German Cooperation Project on Electro-Mobility and Climate Protection, aims to raise the overall awareness of this mobility service as well as to give an insight into the functionality, the positive impacts and the feasibility of carsharing services in China. Moreover, this paper provides good practice guidance for local authorities with the aim to find suitable solutions to decrease the problems caused by motorised individual transport.
This publication resides in the fourth component of the Sino-German Cooperation Project on Electro-Mobility and Climate Protection, as this component is engaged in the integration of electric vehicles in new mobility services for individual low carbon urban transport.
The paper can be downloaded in Chinese and English:
“Carsharing in China – A Contribution to Sustainable Urban Transport? (CN)”
“Carsharing in China – A Contribution to Sustainable Urban Transport?”
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