The current transport system presents significant and growing challenges for the environment, human

health and sustainability. Current schemes of mobility have become highly reliant on private vehicles,
which have shaped citizens’ lifestyles and the layout of our cities, with the consequent impacts for
sustainable land use in urban areas and their hinterlands.

Shared cars as a replacement for everybody owning their own

car mean fewer cars and less driving. Car-sharing can meet

the transport needs of those who have chosen not to buy a

car or those who choose to sell their car. As experience shows

that people who are part of a car-sharing programme both

cycle and take trains and buses more, access to shared cars

supports green transport. Shared cars are also green mobility

because members of a car-sharing programmes drive significantly

fewer kilometres by car than ordinary drivers, and

because they can choose the exact size of car that suits their

needs.

For these reasons the City of Copenhagen wants to promote

the use of shared cars. This is already on the way by providing

reserved parking spaces for shared cars and by allowing free

parking for car-sharing in the payment zones. To make the

use of car-sharing even more widespread the City of Copenhagen

is looking into other options such as cooperating with

relevant partners

The technology still needs to improve in several ways for consumers to embrace
electromobility more broadly. For example, the driving range needs to be longer
and the charging speed quicker. Currently, it takes 20-30 minutes to charge a
vehicle for a 100 km drive at the fastest charging stations. We also need a better
infrastructure making public charging points as common as conventional fuelling
stations and expand renewable energy generation capacity to fully take advantage
of the benefits of electromobility. Electric vehicles are also more expensive than
conventional vehicles.

It is also important to note that simply replacing conventional vehicles with electric
ones won’t solve many of the problems we associate with transport. While it can
help reduce GHG emissions, air pollution and noise, electric vehicles won’t solve
other problems such as congestion or demand for new road infrastructure and
parking spaces. To make transport truly sustainable, we as a society need to rethink
our whole mobility system looking at innovative ways of reducing our reliance on
vehicles. This can include changes such as using car sharing schemes, developing
better public transport infrastructure and increasing the use of low- or zero-emission
transport modes.