Shared Electric Mobility in Towns and Smaller Settlements: SEMiTaSS
Overview
SEMiTaSS aims to research how electric vehicle (EV) sharing can become a successful sustainable mobility option in rural towns and villages. Local public transport services have declined in frequency and reliability across rural areas, shrinking access for those unable to drive and enforcing car dependency on residents who are, on average, 10 years older than their urban counterparts. Rural driving patterns mean transport carbon emissions are higher per capita and EV adoption could deliver greater emissions reductions than in cities, but uptake lags in rural areas. Although shared electric mobility (SEM) services are recognised as a potential way to improve accessibility and reduce car ownership and use as well as emissions in the countryside, they are concentrated in cities, so there is limited understanding of their possible success factors outside urban neighbourhoods.
SEMiTaSS is primarily an in-depth, qualitative research project into rural examples of electric car clubs across England to better understand routine travel and user perspectives on their current and future mobility needs, experiences, and values. With case studies in towns and villages in the South East, East Anglia, North East and East Midlands that span multiple operators, business models and stages of development, SEMiTaSS aims to understand how EV-sharing can become embedded within communities over time.
SEMiTaSS applies social practice theories (SPT) to qualitatively analyse academic knowledge of rural mobility in a systematic scoping review. An extended SPT framework is proposed to then gain insights into not only the practices of rural EV-sharing, but also the practices of policymaking (e.g. regulation) and provision (e.g. business models) that facilitate or restrict the evolution of rural EV-sharing. This is particularly important in geographies where users may also be local policymakers and providers of SEM services.
Building on the QUISEM project, SEMiTaSS also aims to identify further quantitative indicators of viability and impact specific to smaller settlements. It will continue to develop the dashboard to support communities and local policymakers in visualising and benchmarking these place-specific benefits.
SEMiTaSS is designed to bring together local policymakers, SEM operators, community groups and users and involve them directly in the research into how SEM becomes integrated into their communities, co-producing at least one SEM trial. The project will provide and help practitioners and users disseminate outputs to demonstrate the viability and success factors of SEM in town and village communities. This knowledge will benefit local authorities who have declared climate emergencies, shared mobility operators who can expand into new markets, and rural residents who want more sustainable and community-focused transport options and assets.
Outputs
The importance of including shared EVs to accelerate a more inclusive EV transition was highlighted in Written evidence - SEV0033 to the House of Commons Transport Committee.
We put journalists in touch with one of our local partners, as featured in this article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/10/a-long-road-ahead-could-community-car-sharing-help-uk-hit-climate-targets
Using Co-Wheels data, we analysed the differences between their standard, urban operations and those in more rural areas:
Budnitz, H., & Chan, T. H.-Y. (2026). Opportunities for embedding rural car sharing: A cluster analysis of car club utilisation. Journal of Rural Studies, 126, 104273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104273
In brief
Duration
April 2025 – March 2028
Funder
ESRC
Partners
CoMoUK; Oxfordshire County Council; Suffolk County Council; Harborough District Council; Derwent Valley Car Club; Co Wheels; Zimbl; Haddenham Parish Council; Tilton Electric Car Club
Principal Investigator
Researcher and main contact for the project
