SPARK - Electric Car Sharing
About this good practice
SPARK is zero-emission electric car sharing service in Vilnius and Sofia providing affordable eco-friendly mobility solutions using free-floating car sharing model. The service is easy-to-use and electric cars can be located and reserved via the SPARK mobile application on your smartphone. Using this, the user can see the walking route to selected vehicle, reserve, unlock and lock the car while also receiving an invoice for usage. Each ride is charged per minute or per day and costs are all inclusive of insurance, technical maintenance and charging. Charging is free at one of the SPARK charging stations or it can be done at home (cable provided), and parking is free provided it is within any of Vilnius and Sofia paid parking zones (many other cities provide free parking benefits for electric propulsion vehicles as well). The main beneficiaries are private citizens but company has a targeted approach to businesses by promoting the economical and environmentally benefits, and having a better control over employee corporate travels.
SPARK customers after the introduction of newest EV models with higher-end technology on our platform apart from travelling within the main city, can also use the service for long distance trips which is exciting experience and overview to future intercity travels with EVs (though fast charger network on main high roads are essential for such trips)
Resources needed
Charging infrastructure, sufficient population in main city, municipal free parking incentive for EVs (not a must but helps), fleet maintenance crew.
Evidence of success
SPARK is the only fully electric car sharing initiative in Lithuania and Bulgaria. Today it has a network of 85 SPARK charging stations in Vilnius providing a free services to the customers. Today SPARK customers enjoy a fleet of total 88 electric vehicles in Vilnius and 63 in Sofia. Till today in both Vilnius and Sofia, SPARK service was used around 225,000 times and travelled 2,000,000 kilometres which helped to save 400 tons of CO2 emissions.
Potential for learning or transfer
Electric car sharing lowers congestion, parking shortages, pollution and noise levels in urban areas which are major issues for every modern city. This contributes to sustainable urban mobility plans and should prove to be an incentive for municipalities to develop charging point networks, and also to encourage greater take up of EVs, which are the future of automotive industry. SPARK business model and proprietary software was designed to be easily scalable with smooth integration to other countries.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
UAB Ride Share