Car sharing revs up in NZ
Wellington-based Mevo is in talks with Auckland Transport to create a policy that would allow a "free-floating" car-sharing model to be established.
The model is different from the models used by Cityhop and Yoogo, which both use a "back to base" model, requiring users to return cars to the same location it was collected from.
According to NBR, Mevo is proposing a similar policy to the one is has with Wellington City Council whereby it pays parking fees to the council in bulk the month after. The deal is neutral for the council as Mevo pays the same rates as personal parkers.
Mevo founding director Erik Zydervelt, pictured above, says businesses can save 30-40 per cent of their taxi spend by opting to instead use Mevo for business travel and individuals can save 75 per cent when compared to the average yearly cost of ownership.
“The research shows for every one-way or floating car we have, between five and 15 are taken off the road that would otherwise be privately owned,” Zydervelt told NBR.
“These sorts of services are going to stick around, and they are going to grow. We’ve got some bloody impressive economics. The cars are able to return a phenomenal rate – the gross margin is usually better than that of a private vehicle sale."
Zydervelt says Mevo has 189 business customers and is rolling out 45 new Wellington charging stations for its hybrid vehicles this year. Its members and trips have quadrupled in the past year.
According to NBR, the take-up of carsharing in New Zealand has been slow but local operators have noticed increased demand, particularly in Auckland.
CityHop was New Zealand’s first car share service, launched a decade ago by businesswoman and former Auckland city councillor Victoria Carter, who sold it to Toyota last year.
“I went looking for a parent to take over what I had built, and I had been looking for something with a really great distribution network, and also access to the thing we need more of, which is cars,” she told NBR.
Cityhop operates an 80-vehicle fleet in Auckland and Wellington, and Toyota will extend its services to new cities, as well as providing back office and logistical support for its clients.
The service offers businesses an alternative to private vehicle fleets and rental cars, charging clients an hourly rate starting from $9.50 an hour, and 25c a kilometre for the use of the vehicles. It includes petrol, parking, cleaning and insurance for the cars, and the daily rate is capped at $65 per vehicle after five hours of use.
Several other car-share companies have popped up around the country in recent years, including Roam and Yourdrive, which are like Airbnb for cars. Yoogo is another key player which has a strong network in Christchurch.
