Comments on: Zipcar CEO: Why We’re Not Going Electric Anytime Soon

By: CHEAT SHEET: How Green Are City Car-Sharing Networks? « Energy Portfolio Managers Blog

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:10:48 +0000

[...] “EV Pod” launched in July, starting with a fleet of 20 hybrids and two plug-ins (an all-electric Citroen c1 and a plug-in [...]

By: CHEAT SHEET: How Green Are City Car Sharing Networks?

CHEAT SHEET: How Green Are City Car Sharing Networks? — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:58:20 +0000

[...] “EV Pod” launched in July, starting with a fleet of 20 hybrids and two plug-ins (an all-electric Citroen c1 and a plug-in [...]

By: mattM

mattM — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:57:17 +0000

Zipcar is not the cutting edge company that it once was. Griffith says it will take many many years for ev’s to become mainstream, as traditional car manufacturers are shutting down, and the survivors like Nissan are retooling entire factories for electric cars. Time for Zipcar to step aside like Dell, and let a new innovator take over.

By: Smartphones: the Ultimate Model for Green Cars?

Smartphones: the Ultimate Model for Green Cars? — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:01:37 +0000

[...] mass market and onto the grid since, as Griffith put it (and we’ve explained here), “Electric cars by nature have to be connected cars.” Of course, smartphone-inspired connected cars would also be a boon for car-sharing networks [...]

By: Josie Garthwaite

Josie Garthwaite — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:03:36 +0000

@Roger - Zipcar installs charge points at the spots where it keeps plug-in cars -- enough for the less than 25-mile and 4-hour trips that they're used for 95 percent of the time. Not enough to keep me from being nervous about renting an all-electric Zipcar for a long road trip, though.

What kind of support would you like to see from the government? Are you thinking federal, state or local level incentives?

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:53:05 +0000

I do not know what kind of government support this operation gets, if any, but it may be a good idea for the government to push a few bucks into this to help them go more electric.

You can't expect a company like this to take the brunt of going electric without help. Anyway, are there sufficient charge points for all those EVs?

By: Andrea

Andrea — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:26:10 +0000

Zipcar has a number of hybrids in its Boston fleet, and their hourly rate is significantly less ($7/hr versus $10+/hr) to encourage people to use them over gas-powered zipcars.

By: Josie Garthwaite

Josie Garthwaite — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:19:19 +0000

@Brad – Agreed, cars running on coal power long term doesn’t sound like much of a solution. But how about cars running on energy from renewable sources?

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:36:09 +0000

If we shift to electric vehicles does that increase our already huge use of coal? The least clean fossil fuel? I like the idea of moving away from petroleum, but think shifting to an even more coal-based economy may bot provide the benefits we think we’re getting with electric vehicles. EV’s are a good first step, but we need the giant leap to fuel cells and truly clean transportation.

By: Josie Garthwaite

Josie Garthwaite — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:38:29 +0000

@Stephen Cameron - You raise some good points: other car sharing networks have been moving even faster to adopt EVs, and the question about how to anticipate charge levels after trips still has to be answered. Given the size of Zipcar's network, it has the potential to have a bigger impact when it comes to introducing alt-fuel vehicles even though the company has been moving very cautiously in this direction (from an all-electric Rav 4 several years ago to about 1000 hybrids now and, as I mentioned, the less-than-ambitious two plug-ins in London last week).

Do you use EVs in a car sharing network? I'm interested to hear about your experiences with that.

By: Stephen Cameron

Stephen Cameron — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:08:59 +0000

It's too bad that this is such a zip puff-piece, because clearly the integration of electric cars into urban car sharing would seem like a natural fit. Has Ms. Garthwaite done any research beyond Zipcar on this, she would have been able to mention things like the city of Paris issuing an RFP for a 2,000 vehicle electric program to start as early as next year. That "Zipcar will be amongst the first to go electric" is highly unlikely. They have been losing money for so long ('forever' actually), and are now so focussed on trying to go public, that they have lost any ability to innovate (outside of their business plan). Little Hourcar in Minneapolis still has more plug-ins operating in their fleet than Zipcar, and they've been there for years. This "EV pod" (2 plug-in cars) is nothing more than a calculated PR stunt - or a reuqirement for their City of Westminster partner. A bigger issue for Zipcar and any other car share company - well worth testing - is how to know how much charge is GOING TO BE left in a vehicle after a trip, so it can be rented again. Charging between users needs to be flexible, not fixed.

By: Better Place: A Third of U.S. Car Buyers Would Consider Buying an EV

Better Place: A Third of U.S. Car Buyers Would Consider Buying an EV — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:01:37 +0000

[...] company will ultimately be one of the early adopters of alt-vehicles, tells us he thinks it’s going to take a lot longer than people think (many more years) for electric vehicles to enter the mainstream, Better Place is busy touting data [...]