What Car for Car-Sharing? Conventional, Electric, Hybrid or Hydrogen Fleet? Analysis of the Vehicle Selection Criteria for Car-Sharing Systems

Short-term car rental services called “car-sharing” or “carsharing” are systems that in recent years have been an alternative form of transport by individual car in an increasing number of cities around the world. With the growing popularity of services, new decision-making problems have arisen among system operators. Among the challenges faced by operators, due to the constantly growing environmental requirements, is the fleet of vehicles for car-sharing systems-appropriate selection. Noticing this research gap, this article was dedicated to determining the criteria that are important when choosing a fleet of vehicles for car-sharing and to indicate the best suited to the needs of car-sharing vehicles. Own research was proposed, considering desk research, expert research and analyses using the multi-criteria decision support method (ELECTRE III). This research was carried out for the Polish market of car-sharing services. Studying the Polish market is appropriate due to the occurrence of significant difficulties with the fleet incorrectly adjusted to the needs of urban conditions. This study covers vehicles with conventional, electric, hybrid and hydrogen propulsion. The analyses allowed for the determination of the vehicles best suited to the needs of car-sharing. The results show the dominance of hydrogen-powered vehicles over conventional, hybrid and electric vehicles. What is more, it was determined that the most important criteria are the purchase price of the vehicle and energy/fuel consumption per 100 km. The obtained results are a guide to proceeding when making decisions regarding the implementation or modernization of the fleet in car-sharing systems. The results also support achieving more sustainable urban mobility in the zero-emission trend through hydrogen mobility.