Revolution in the vehicle industry
For the past 110 years, our traditional personal vehicle has always had 4 wheels and 5 seats. When almost all other industries and products have changed considerably, and many new industries have been created, the car industry still pretty much produces one-size-fits-all vehicles. There has been a compelling reason to do so. Our daily travel needs vary considerably and even when most days I might travel alone, I need to take my family to the countryside for a weekend and it’s not reasonable to buy different personal cars for different daily needs. Mobility-as-a-service is going to change all that.
Mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) is a trend away from personally owned vehicles towards mobility solutions that are consumed as a service based on my travel needs. When I travel alone, I might get an electric scooter for the trip to the train station, train from there to another city and a rental car to the hotel. Or I might rent a bigger car or some other means of transportation for my family. With MaaS I no longer have to worry if the car is universal enough for my daily needs. I can call up the most optimal vehicle for today’s travel. And that’s where the first revolution is made. With the shift away from 2-ton one-size-fits-all cars we need many new types of vehicles — we need 4-wheelers, 3-wheelers, 2-wheelers, 1-wheelers. We need 5-seaters, 4-seaters, 3-seaters, 2-seaters, 1-seaters and some without any seat at all. We’re going to see more varied cars, moped-cars, mopeds, bikes, low-speed and high-speed electric bicycles, electric scooters, hoverboards, etc. All this provides an opportunity for vehicle designers and developers all around the world. For instance, the micromobility developer Stigo Ltd has entered the market with B2B sharing products for offices, big warehouses and even new electric kick-scooters for streets.
Another big change is happening in the way transportation products are made. KPMG Mobility 2030 report reveals that car utilization will increase from current 4–5% up to 50+%. This means that when it might take 10 years for a personal car to reach 300,000 range, it will take 1 year for a car used as part of MaaS. Cars will have to reach ranges like several million kilometers within their utilization period and our current technologies are not up to that. We need to develop new tech to make sure the engine and transmission system will last that long. But not only that — will door hinges, electric windows, seats, safety belt, and other components be durable to be used for millions if kilometers? Probably not today and this is an opportunity for the car industry to start innovating once again.
This change of quality and durability will affect also smaller vehicles. We’ve seen the change from initial consumer goods towards designed-for-sharing industry in the micromobility world as well. The first shared kick-scooter projects showed average lifespan of a scooter about 28 days. Part of the reason was the fact that these scooters were never meant for high utilization, so they broke down. Or they were difficult to service. Or they were easy to be stolen and converted into personal use. Not any more. Several leading shared bike and scooter companies are focusing on built-for-purpose vehicles that are more expensive to produce but will also last longer. In the highly competitive world of MaaS, it’ll be all about return on investment in the long run.
MaaS makes a lot of economic sense — it’s 4X cheaper to use shared servicesthan own a car. New startups and companies like Stigo are working hard to make sure we are going to have enough different kinds of vehicles to choose from. Exciting future ahead!
