Business Model Analysis and a Life Cycle Oriented Portfolio Approach for the Management of Value-Added Services on the Example of Electric and Autonomous Carsharing

Tightening political restrictions, rapid improvement of battery technologies as well as increasing demand for sustainable mobility concepts are driving the need for new business model approaches in the automotive industry. By now, carsharing has been established as a business model satisfying the need for urban automobility without the inconveniences of owning a car. Due to the short-term trips carsharing covers, it is predestined to be combined with electric vehicles. Therefore, E-carsharing has the potential to represent a viable future business model for automakers and mobility providers alike. Nevertheless, it still struggles to become profitable. Even though this could change in future, there is another leverage of striving for profitability: new revenue streams. In the ICT and airline industry, so-called value-added services (VAS) account for significant revenue shares. With increasing customer demands, VAS lose their function to delight customers and become basic requirements in time, and thus are no longer an instrument to differentiate from competition. As a consequence, the service portfolio has to be constantly planned and revised. Originating from a life cycle perspective as postulated by Kano Noriaki, this chapter shows an approach on how the dynamic development of services as well as economic expectations can be captured in a portfolio consideration and how strategic recommendations for VAS at specific events in time can be phrased. This portfolio approach will be exemplified by potential E-carsharing services. The chapter concludes with an outlook and business model implications on charging and relocation strategies in E-carsharing and the future case of shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs).