Electric vehicle (EV) subscription vendor Autonomy is teaming up with EV Mobility, an EV car-sharing company, for a new platform for renting EVs in the U.S.
EV Mobility provides EVs on demand as an option for luxury hotels, multi-family apartments and commercial buildings. Those seeking to rent a vehicle for car-sharing uses EV Mobility’s mobile app to have a car delivered.
Under the deal, Autonomy will deploy Tesla Model 3s and Model Ys to EV mobility locations in California, Florida, Washington and other states by year’s end. These vehicles will be available to guests and residents to reserve and operate on a 24/7 basis. The rental costs cover annual registration, licensing, routine maintenance, roadside assistance and other fees.
“The partnership with EV Mobility is mutually beneficial in that it helps us achieve our scaling goal of 10,000 Autonomy subscribers within the next 12 months,” said Scott Painter, founder and CEO of Autonomy. “EV Mobility’s business is complementary to our business model and launches our B2B channel.”
Painted said the collaboration provides EV Mobility access to a growing fleet of EVs nationwide without having to secure and finance its own fleet.
Why it is important
This type of partnership would not be a possibility a few years ago, as the technology status and availability of EVs would have made it extremely difficult to pull off.
But considering the automotive market is undergoing what is called its largest transition ever in switching from gas- and diesel-powered vehicles to all-electric, the EV Mobility-Autonomy partnership is feasible.
One of the biggest challenges in car sharing is the risk versus reward of owning a fleet of vehicles. The partnership allows EV Mobility to not have to buy a fleet of cars to scale its business while giving Autonomy more users for its subscription-based car-as-a-service model.
The partnership also shows how companies are taking new approaches to mobility and how technology is allowing new ways of transportation to emerge.
The global car-as-a-service market is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.83% through 2025, according to market research firm Technavio. The largest markets for car-as-a-service will be China and Japan but the U.K. and U.S. are expected to grow substantially in the next five years, the company said.
Technavio said competition from vendors will lead to the emergence of various new strategies and partnerships to improve visibility of the service and to remain competitive. What we are seeing here with the EV Mobility and Autonomy partnership seems to line up regarding this trend.
