Individual mobility by shared autonomous electric vehicle fleets: Cost and CO2 comparison with internal combustion engine vehicles in Berlin, Germany

Abstract

The current mobility paradigm is based on cheap fossil fuel energy, high CO2 emissions and individual mobility. This paradigm faces economic, ecological and social limits. The aim of this paper is to analyse if a shared autonomous Electric Vehicles (EVs) fleet can meet these challenges and at the same time satisfy the current requirements of privately owned Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs). Therefore, analytical models have been developed to compute the fleet size and to simulate and investigate impacts on mobility behaviour in Berlin, Germany. The collected data were used to calculate cost effects, the energy consumption and the carbon footprint of different shared autonomous EVs in comparison with privately owned ICEVs. The approach shows that the system of a shared autonomous EV fleet could lower journey time, reduce CO2 emissions, free up parking space in urban areas and generate cost benefits for customers.