An audit by movmi has found that ekar Dubai is achieving the highest free floating utilisation globally.
Ekar is among a group of free floating operators that allow members to book and return cars anywhere within a specified city or ‘geofence’. They typically offer pay-per-minute bookings via mobile Apps.
A key efficiency metric for operators is the percentage of time a fleet are driven per 24 hours, known as utilisation, explained movmi.
ekar’s own data was compared to the ‘Comparison of Free-floating Car Sharing Services’, a study by Habibi et Al published in 2017 by members of the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.
“This leading study compares free floating utilisation averages across 21 major cities worldwide. The study shows that free floating utilisation rates are highest in Madrid, New York, and Hamburg with values of 21.6 %. 12.7 % and 11.7 %, respectively,” explained movmi.
The audit conducted by Sandra Phillips, a TED Speaker on Mobility and CEO of movmi, and her team compared this study concluded to ekar’s data revealing that is achieving higher utilisation rates than registered elsewhere.
“The Dubai service, run in partnership with the Roads and Transportation Authority (RTA), has achieved an unprecedented 22.0% utilisation rate,” noted movmi.
Phillips added that convenience and ease of use are the number one reasons why people use carsharing.
“ekar has actively been investing in its own technology to create an exceptional user experience. movmi’s team evaluates carshare apps on a regular basis and we were very impressed with ekar’s app. In fact, we found it on par with car2go, the carsharing app that consistently ranks as the best,” said Phillips.
ekar is the first and largest carshare operator in the Middle East and is actively investing in its own technology and has successfully raised funds to fuel its growth.
ekar uses state-of-the-art instant reservations and smart access technology, providing a network of vehicles for on-demand rent in the UAE. ekar enable users to easily discover and book available cars via its mobile app and website providing a cost-effective alternative to daily and monthly rentals by offering a “pay-by-the-use” pricing scheme.
Since inception in 2016 by Vilhelm Hedberg, ekar’s Co-Founder and CEO, ekar has grown from a 15 vehicle pilot program with Etihad Airways to a multi-country service used by more than 80,000 customers and boasting an impressive 25 million kilometers booked across UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“Although we are proud to have achieved a great utilisation milestone in Dubai, this is just the beginning of our journey,” stated Hedberg. “ekar is on trajectory to one million members and over ten thousand ekars by 2022 and we aspire to mirror such utilisation successes across all major cities in the Gulf, Turkey, and Egypt. The sky is the limit.”
