Car-sharing services are turning toward alternative-fuel vehicles as the technology improves and customers clamor to drive them. In San Luis Obispo, Calif., a service gets underway offering hourly rentals of electric, biodiesel, natural gas and ethanol-powered cars.
In August, Baltimoreans will be able to rent a four-passenger electric car that can go 120 miles between battery charges.
Zipcar, the nation’s largest car-sharing service, has added more alternative-fuel vehicles — now 15% of its 6,500 car fleet — and offers plug-in hybrids in San Francisco, which had three charging stations at City Hall.
“There will be more cities this year with electric vehicles,” Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith says. He says 80% of Zipcar members, who pay an annual fee to be able to pick up cars from neighborhood spots for by-the-hour rentals, say they want to drive an electric car.
The number of people joining such services grew to 309,437 this year. USA Today
