BlueIndy is a revolutionary 100% electric self-service car-sharing service in Indianapolis. It was launched in 2015 by the Bollore Group. After its implementation 200 stations with 500 available cars were located throughout Indianapolis on a 24/7 basis. In this article, you will learn about electric car sharing, BlueIndy cars, and how Indianapolis car sharing gets results out of the BlueIndy.
What are the Basics of BlueIndy Cars Service in Indianapolis? How Indianapolis Car Sharing Gets Results Out of the BlueIndy?
In Indianapolis, BlueIndy offers a membership-based car share service and electric vehicle charging infrastructure for public use. It offers small white hatchbacks with Bollore-made batteries with the BlueIndy logo. Prices of this electric car-sharing company can vary depending on the type of membership you hold. You pay around $9.99 per month in case you enroll for a year. This service also offers a one-day free membership. Weekly and monthly memberships are also available here. For these BlueIndy cars, you aren’t required to pay any parking, gasoline, or insurance fee. However, the drivers can incur charges for member rule violations like accidents, failure to plug the car into the charger, etc.
Indianapolis invested $6 million in the BlueIndy program and the program estimates that annually, it will provide $24 million back to the community. This will boom the local economy and is a great ROI. With this, you have understood how Indianapolis car sharing gets results out of the BlueIndy.
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Is BlueIndy Electric Car Sharing Program in Indianapolis a Sustainable Solution?
After learning how Indianapolis car sharing gets results out of the BlueIndy, let’s see if BlueIndy is sustainable or not. Some argue that this electric car-sharing program in Indianapolis isn’t a hundred percent sustainable solution as it uses electricity supplied by coal. Majorly the power generation in the world is grid-tied and hence the charging place of the car also plays an important role in determining its carbon emission. Indiana largely relies on coal for power generation and thus the climate benefits of going electric will not be evenly shared here. However, the BlueIndy car allows different people to share a car at a point and this saves the cost of manufacturing different cars for different individuals. This also controls the manufacturing emissions and life cycle of cars. As electricity will start decarbonizing in the world, this type of service will also become more sustainable in Indiana.
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Why BlueIndy Failed in Indianapolis?
The BlueIndy car-sharing service closed down on May 21, 2020, nearly five years after being launched in 2015. It suffered from a lot of controversy surrounding its investment. According to many reports, the main reason behind the failure of BlueIndy’s car service is the lack of customers. Throughout its operational years, it only had a few thousand active members and this ultimately led to a lack of profitability.
At the start, the project had 50 cars (Bollore’s BlueCars), 124 charging spots, and 25 stations. In 2017, this increased to 280 cars and 85 stations. In January 2020, there were 200 cars and 92 stations. The system had an aim to expand up to 500 cars, 200 stations, and 1,000 charging spots but that couldn’t happen and the company finally announced its exit from Indianapolis in the spring of 2020.
