THE MARKET OPPORTUNITY OF ELECTRIC AUTOMATED MOBILITY SERVICES

1. BY CHARLIE JOHNSON AND JONATHAN WALKER
PEAK CAR
OWNERSHIP
THE MARKET OPPORTUNITY OF ELECTRIC AUTOMATED MOBILITY SERVICES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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PEAK CAR OWNERSHIP | 2
AUTHORS
Charlie Johnson and Jonathan Walker
* Authors listed alphabetically. All authors are from
Rocky Mountain Institute unless otherwise noted.
CONTACTS
Jonathan Walker, jwalker@rmi.org
SUGGESTED CITATION
Walker, Jonathan and Charlie Johnson. Peak Car
Ownership: The Market Opportunity of Electric
Automated Mobility Services.
Rocky Mountain Institute, 2016.
http://www.rmi.org/peak_car_ownership
EDITORIAL/DESIGN
Editorial Director: Cindie Baker
Editor: Laurie Guevara-Stone
Art Director: Romy Purshouse
Images courtesy of iStock unless otherwise noted.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the following individuals for offering
their insights and perspectives on this work.
Josh Agenbroad, Rocky Mountain Institute
Rutt Bridges, Author
Jackson Crane, Rocky Mountain Institute
Lynn Daniels, Rocky Mountain Institute
Garrett Fitzgerald, Rocky Mountain Institute
Leia Guccione, Rocky Mountain Institute
EJ Klock-McCook, Rocky Mountain Institute
Jesse Morris, Rocky Mountain Institute
Chris Nelder, Rocky Mountain Institute
Greg Rucks, Rocky Mountain Institute
Anand Shah, Albright Stonebridge Group
Jiayin Song, Rocky Mountain Institute
Bianca Wachtel, Rocky Mountain Institute
Jerry Weiland, Rocky Mountain Institute
AUTHORS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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ABOUT US
ABOUT ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)—an independent nonprofit founded in 1982—transforms global energy use to
create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future. It engages businesses, communities, institutions, and
entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels
to efficiency and renewables. In 2014, RMI merged with Carbon War Room (CWR), whose business-led market
interventions advance a low-carbon economy. The combined organization has offices in Basalt and Boulder,
Colorado; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.
ABOUT MOBILITY TRANSFORMATION
Rocky Mountain Institute’s Mobility Transformation program brings together public and private stakeholders to
codevelop and implement shared, electrified, and eventually autonomous mobility solutions. Working with U.S. cities, it
leverages emerging technologies and new business models to reduce congestion, decrease costs, increase
convenience, enhance safety, curb emissions, and ensure economic growth.
Please visit http://www.rmi.org/mobility for more information.
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4. The rise of automated mobility
services could be one of the most
interesting and complex disruptions
of the modern era.

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Personal vehicles have dominated the U.S. mobility
system for nearly 100 years. But we are now in the
formative stages of a powerful confluence of cultural,
technological, and societal forces. It is possible that a
new mobility system will emerge in the next few years
that is superior to our existing system in almost every
way. This report provides guidance on what to expect
so that stakeholders can prepare today.
Analysis by leading organizations and experts
indicates the technical, logistical, and economic
plausibility of a future where most mobility needs are
met by mobility services, enabled by autonomous
driving technology, and powered by electric
powertrains. This future system has the potential to
reduce costs by over $1 trillion, reduce CO2
emissions
by a gigatonne, and save tens of thousands of lives
per year in the U.S. alone.
With so many advantages, hundreds of billions
of dollars could shift away from personal vehicle
products and services to mobility service providers
like transportation network companies (TNCs),
technology companies, and the nimble automakers
that are able to pivot. What is unclear is the rate
and scope at which the disruption could occur and
the impact it will have on determining winners and
losers, both of which are highly dependent on the
decisions made today by stakeholders (financial
institutions, automakers, new entrants, electric utilities,
governments, etc.).
This report provides strategic decision makers with
potential market sizes and plausible rates of mobility
service proliferation that could occur under reasonable
circumstances. The report is the product of analysis
to determine key economic tipping points combined
with relevant consumer-adoption data and trends to
estimate market sizes, growth rates, and impacts on
demand for personal vehicles, gasoline, electricity,
and CO2
emissions. The results suggest that key
stakeholders must shift their business models and
policies to benefit from this mobility transformation.
INTRODUCTION
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KEY FINDINGS
FIGURE 1:
BY 2018, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES COULD PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES AT NEAR COST PARITY TO
THE TOTAL COST OF OWNING AND OPERATING A PERSONAL VEHICLE—UNDER $1.00 PER MILE.
1. By 2018, solely using autonomous taxis for transportation could cost the same
as owning and operating a car.
Upon debut, fully autonomous vehicles could reduce
the cost of on-demand point-to-point mobility services
like Uber and Lyft to near cost parity with owning
and driving a car (around $0.85 per mile), allowing
consumers to economically choose these services
exclusively over a personal vehicle (see Figure 1).
Despite current technological and potential regulatory
barriers, many of the world’s most powerful companies
are racing to deploy automated mobility services as
soon as 2017 in certain U.S. cities.
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Personal
Vehicle
(e.g., Camry)
TNC
(e.g., Uber)
Automation
Costs
Automation
Savings
Automated
TNC
$2.50
$2.00
$1.50
$1.00
$0.50
$0.00
Effects of Automation on Cost per Mile of TNC Service
AverageCostperPassenger-MileTraveled($2015)
Fleet Management
Cost
Autonomous
Hardware
Driver Net Earnings
TNC Revenue
License, registration
Insurance
Financing
Time Depreciation
Parking
Maintenance
Fuel Cost
Mileage
Depreciation
Automation
Costs
TNC Costs
Ownership
Costs
Operating
Costs

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KEY FINDINGS
FIGURE 2:
MODEL YEAR 2018 ELECTRIC VEHICLES WILL HAVE IMMEDIATE COST ADVANTAGES OVER TRADITIONAL GASOLINE
VEHICLES IN MOBILITY SERVICES. THIS ADVANTAGE WILL ONLY GROW AS EV TECHNOLOGY MATURES.
2. Electric vehicles make strong economic sense to provide automated mobility service.
At the high mileage driven by mobility service
vehicles, model year 2018 electric vehicles (EVs)
such as the Chevy Bolt and Tesla Model 3 could save
mobility services providers over $1,000 annually
per vehicle versus a comparable gasoline vehicle
(see Figure 2). This is due to lower operating costs
that more than compensate for higher capital costs
(even without subsidies). As battery costs fall and EV
production reaches full scale, the cost advantages of
EVs will only grow and should lead to at least $4,000
annual savings per vehicle by 2030, equivalent to
~$200 billion in total fleet savings per year. Economics
should impel automated service providers to deploy
electric autonomous vehicles (EAVs).
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AnnualCostperVehicleat70,000milesperyear($2015)
+$3K
+$2K
+$1K
Baseline
-$1K
-$2K
-$3K
Gasoline vs. Electric Vehicle in 2018:
Annual Cost Difference per Service Vehicle
Gasoline Vehicle EV Costs EV Savings Electric Vehicle
$1,019 annual savings
per vehicle
EVSE Cost
EV Capital
Cost Premium
Maintenance
Cost Savings
Fuel Cost
Savings
EV Cost
Gasoline Vehicle
Cost

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KEY FINDINGS
FIGURE 3:
RANKING THE MOBILITY MARKET OF VARIOUS U.S. CITIES. IN THESE MARKETS, AT $1.00 PER MILE, ANNUAL
REVENUE FROM AUTOMATED MOBILITY SERVICES COULD BE OVER $100 BILLION—OR ABOUT 10% OF THE TOTAL
U.S. MOBILITY MARKET IN 2025.
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*Americans spend $600 billion annually on transportation in the 26 cities shown. Of this, automated mobility services could capture up to $120 billion in annual revenue based on analysis of consumer opinion and early adoption behavior.
**The CA DMV is considering regulation that would essentially ban driverless vehicles.
© AUGUST 2016 RMI
Likely launch markets
Likely early markets
Markets with snow
Risky regulatory markets
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Providers in Texas alone could generate
about $15B in revenue by 2025
Who stands to profit?
Consumers Cities Electrical utilities Car makers Mobility service providers Suppliers
2.6B
TAMPA
1.8B
ORLANDO
4.3B
ATLANTA
6.3B
DALLAS
2.5B
AUSTIN
1.8B
SAN ANTONIO
3.3B
SEATTLE
3.5B
PHOENIX
3.2B
DENVER
3.3B
SAN DIEGO
3.5B
MINNEAPOLIS 3.2B
DETROIT
$2.0B
COLUMBUS
6.1B
WASHINGTON, D.C.
4.6B
PHILADELPHIA
5.4B
BOSTON
1.6B
KANSAS CITY
2.8B
PORTLAND
5.3B
MIAMI
20.3B
NEW YORK CITY
5.0B
HOUSTON
1.8B
CHARLOTTE
9.6B
CHICAGO
Risky regulatory markets**
11.7B
LOS ANGELES
1.6B
PITTSBURGH
The $120 Billion Opportunity of Automated Mobility
Services in the U.S. by 2025
5.7B
SAN FRANCISCO
3. The total mobility market of the first 26 U.S cities where automated mobility service
will likely launch is worth ~$600 billion.

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KEY FINDINGS
FIGURE 4:
ESTIMATED GROWTH RATE OF AUTOMATED MOBILITY SERVICE IN FIRST 26 MARKETS
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Fast Growth Scenario Slow Growth Scenario
2018 2019 2020 20232021 20242022
NumberofAutonomousVehiclesDeployed
TotalU.SMobilityMarketShare
Estimated Growth Rate of Automated Mobility Service in First 26 Markets
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Based on existing use of services like Uber and
Lyft, paired with surveys of consumer acceptance of
autonomous vehicles and automated mobility services,
the U.S. “early adopter” pool for automated mobility
service appears to be quite large, particularly at a price
point of $1.00 per mile or lower. By rolling out service
strategically in U.S. markets, early-to-market automated
mobility service providers could capture over $100 billion
in revenue at the expense of incumbents like oil companies
and traditional carmakers.

10. KEY FINDINGS
FIGURE 5:
COST OF AUTOMATED MOBILITY VS. PERSONAL SEDAN
4. Automated mobility services could capture two-thirds of the entire U.S. mobility
market in 15–20 years.
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Second-generation electric autonomous vehicles and
services could reduce automated mobility costs below
the operating cost of a personal vehicle (~$0.30/mile).
At this price, car owners could utilize automated mobility
services frequently/exclusively with no cost increase
over driving their own vehicle. Low cost, combined with
increasing breadth of vehicle and service offerings,
would open most of the mobility market to automated
mobility service providers. Potential pitfalls and
unknowns may limit automated mobility service growth,
but tech leaders, governments, and other stakeholders
are working on making the proliferation of electric
automated mobility service a reality.
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$1.00
$0.90
$0.80
$0.70
$0.60
$0.50
$0.40
$0.30
$0.20
$0.10
$0.00
2015 2020
Personal Sedan OpEx
Automated Mobility Service
(EV Sedan)
Personal Sedan TCO
2025 2030 2035
Fleet
Management
Cost
Autonomous
Hardware
Mobility
Provider
Revenue
License,
Registration
Insurance
Financing
EVSE
Maintenance
Battery
replacement
Mileage
Depreciation
Fuel Cost
Automated Mobility vs. Personal Sedan: 20-year Cost Projection
ConsumerCostperMile($2015)

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KEY FINDINGS
FIGURE 6:
GASOLINE DEMAND WILL DROP SHARPLY AS ELECTRIC SERVICE VEHICLES DISPLACE PERSONAL
GASOLINE-POWERED VEHICLES.
5. Oil companies will lose revenue, utilities will gain, and carmakers will be split.
Electric vehicles could displace gasoline vehicles very
quickly in a mobility service paradigm. Due to high
annual mileage, service vehicles will turn over in about
five years instead of ten to fifteen for personal vehicles.
Due to compelling economics, most of the automated
service vehicles should be electric by 2025. This quick
introduction and quick turnover could lead to gasoline
demand dropping by two-thirds by 2035.
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2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035
non-vehicle demand
AnnualU.S.GasolineConsumption(megabarrels)
Projected U.S. Gasoline Consumption:
Baseline and Electric, Automated Mobility Proliferation
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Electric, Automated Mobility (Fast) Growth Baseline with CAFE Compliance

12. KEY FINDINGS
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FIGURE 7: THE INCREASE IN ELECTRIC VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED (EVMT) COULD INCREASE DEMAND FOR ENERGY
FROM ELECTRICAL UTILITIES BY 10%.
U.S.ElectricityDemand(trillionsofkWh)
2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
U.S. Electricity Demand:
Baseline and Electric Automated Mobility Proliferation
EIA Electricity Demand Projection With Electric Automated Mobility “Fast” Growth
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FIGURE 8: WITH MASS AMOUNTS OF EVS FUELED BY A RELATIVELY CLEAN GRID, CARBON DIOXIDE FROM
PERSONAL MOBILITY PLUMMETS.
AvoidedCO2
EmissionsperYear
(Megatonnes)(2015Baseline)
2015 2020 2025 2030 2035
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
CO2
Reduction in the “Fast” Growth Scenario of Electric, Automated Mobility Services
Reduced Gasoline CO2
e Net CO2
Decrease with Added Electrical Grid CO2
Net CO2
Decrease with Added Electrical Grid CO2
(DOUBLE VMT)
It is critical that electrical utilities are prepared for a fast
influx of electric vehicle demand. Rate design and electric
vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) siting will be critical
considerations to ensure charging is a boon to the grid.

13. OUTLOOK
According to our modeling, peak car ownership in the
United States will occur around 2020 and will drop
quickly after that. This could lead to a clear delineation
between winners and losers based on which auto
companies capitalize on emerging business models
for mobility services and which do not. In addition,
the speed and complexity of this disruption could
favor new entrants that are used to a rapidly changing
consumer and technology landscape and fast turnover
of product. New entrants also have lower risk of
stranded assets that are already deployed (or planned)
for a personal vehicle-centric market.
KEY FINDINGS
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On the positive side, carmakers that excel in providing
autonomous vehicles and automated mobility services
stand to prosper greatly in the next two decades.
As personal vehicle demand drops, demand for
autonomous vehicles to perform mobility services will
grow. Demand for autonomous service vehicles will
compensate for lost demand for personal vehicles
for several years, but ultimately the vehicle fleet
will shrink considerably. But carmakers that provide
mobility services and autonomous vehicles could reap
substantial profit since our current system costs around
$0.80 per mile, and mature electric automated mobility
service could cost only $0.30 per mile. That difference
of $0.50 per mile equates to over $1 trillion in total
savings that will be split between society, consumers,
and the mobility service providers of the future.
FIGURE 9:
PERSONAL VEHICLE DEMAND COULD DROP 40% AS FEWER VEHICLES DO MORE WORK, BALANCED BY NEW
REVENUE SOURCES FOR THE CARMAKERS THAT EMBRACE THE CHANGING MARKET AND DEPLOY THEIR VEHICLES
IN THE AUTOMATED SERVICE PARADIGM.
Millions
Years
Annual LDV
Demand
2015 2020 2025 2030 2035
20
15
10
5
0
Personal Vehicles
Automated
Mobility Service
Vehicles
EIA Projected
LDV Sales
Peak Car
Ownership
Peak Car Ownership:
Projected Light-Duty Vehicle (LDV) Demand

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