My Perfect Automobile » Hybrid Rentals

Tesla Vs. Volt Vs. Leaf: The Winner is…

Larry Bell — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:49:27 +0000

Tesla Model S, interior

The statistics read like a football game update. At the end of the first quarter, in a three-way contest, Tesla Motors has pulled ahead of its two rivals, Chevy and Nissan, by a score of 4,750 to 4,421, to 3,695. In the automotive world, that news is no less surprising. Electric carmaker Tesla will post sales of 4,750 Model S vehicles for the first quarter of 2013, a period in which GM has sold 4,421 Chevy Volts and Nissan Motor Co. of Japan has posted sales of 3,695 for its all-electric Leaf automobile. What makes the data even more unusual is the fact that the cars feature wildly differing base prices. The Leaf costs $28,000, while Tesla’s luxury electric sedan goes for $69,000 and Chevy’s hybrid-electric Volt carries a sticker of $39,000.

Tesla, Volt, Leaf: Video

Hybrid and electric car enthusiasts have no doubt seen dozens of videos featuring the Chevy Volt. Chances are this has not been one of them. It is, however, proof that the car has become so popular even dogs are choosing it as their favorite. Kidding aside, the fellow in the clip, and his clever pets, are the owners of a shiny new Volt. This is simply a record of their first-ever ride in the car, along with a few still shots of the canines enjoying some all-electric errand running courtesy of their private chauffeur.

Tesla Sales

Some analysts consider the newly released sales data relatively unimportant, given that Tesla, Chevrolet and Nissan sell to such diverse demographics. The Leaf is trying to carve out a niche for itself as an affordable, budget-minded EV. Tesla’s much higher price tag is not a magnet for those buyers, while the Volt sits squarely between the two extremes. Chevy’s groundbreaking Volt is well within reach of many car buyers after federal and state tax credits.

For more about Tesla Motors, Chevrolet, and Nissan Motor Co., see their official corporate websites:
http://www.teslamotors.com
http://www.chevrolet.com
http://www.nissanusa.com

Larry Bell

Larry Bell + is My Perfect Automobile’s Genius Author, but we call him ‘The Expert‘. Here is his full Blog: My Perfect Automobile. Larry lives in San Jose, CA and is also the Expert Author. Larry is a lover of the Automobile as well and shares a passion for Concept, Hybrid and Electric Cars…

Honda Widens Fit EV Market

Larry Bell — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:19:30 +0000

Honda Fit EV

Honda Motor Co. announced that it would soon offer its Fit EV electric vehicle in New Jersey, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Beginning last summer, the automaker placed the car in Oregon and California markets only. The Fit EV can travel 82 miles between charges, and is available for lease at $389 per month. The car is currently not offered for sale. A spokesperson for Honda pointed out that the East Coast rollout is part of a planned phase-in for the car, which at present is the company’s only all-electric vehicle.

Honda Fit EV: Video

The review video below shows the Honda Fit EV in action, on the road. The driver honestly lists the features that he finds most convenient, and then tells us how it feels to drive the attractive electric Honda. Note that the car is still not available for outright sale in the U.S. market, but is only available as a lease. Honda wants to examine the cars and their driving data after the first round of users are through. That way, the Japanese automaker can tweak various systems and components, assess customer feedback, and develop a better product. The Fit EV is neither a sports car nor a luxury vehicle, but it looks stylish, delivers a solid ride, and handles well. Once Honda begins selling rather than leasing, the Fit EV is likely to be a big help to Honda’s bottom line.

Honda, Ford Expand Markets

Honda’s announcement comes on the heels of a similar move by Ford Motor Co. to expand its EV availability. Last week Ford announced that it would be pumping up its EV dealerships to the tune of 900 locations nationwide. At the end of 2012, Ford only had 200 or so dealerships that were certified to sell the Ford Focus EV, C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid, and Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid

For more about Honda and Ford vehicles, see the automakers’ official corporate websites below:
http://www.honda.com
hppt://www.ford.com

Larry Bell

Hertz Rental Adds Chevy Volt to Lineup

Bob T — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:37:50 +0000

Chevy Volt

Within its fleet at the University of Connecticut, Hertz On Demand will soon be offering the Chevy Volt as a car-sharing choice. The program operates locally to serve university students, faculty, and residents who wish to use a pay-as-you-go car service with no annual charge and which features a rate as low as $6.50 per hour. Both the hourly rates and day rates include insurance, 180 miles, and fuel. The local fleet employs electric cars, compacts, and hybrids. Hertz has already begun to expand its car-sharing services and hopes to include green vehicles whenever possible.

Hertz and Volt: Video

Hertz was one of the first global car rental agencies to make green vehicles available to private consumers and fleets. The following short video details many of the company’s efforts to include energy efficient cars and trucks among its offerings. Whether that means CNG, electric, or hybrid rentals, Hertz is introducing as many choices as possible for its customers. The Green Traveler Collection is a proprietary program that Hertz created to feature green rentals. The corporation boasts an overall fuel efficiency rating for its green collection of better than 42 mpg.

Hertz and Volt

Hertz is not the only rental company offering green choices nowadays, but it was the first to feature environmentally friendly options. In fact, Hertz was the first to have electric rental cars available on three continents, the first to try out CNG vehicles as part of its lineup, and the first to offer clean diesel cars to U.S. customers. As part of the company’s overall efforts to promote sustainability, Hertz promotes its green rentals as a sort of test-drive experience. Many consumers have told surveyors that they purchased a green vehicle as a direct result of a positive rental experience.

For more about Hertz and Chevrolet, see the companies’ official corporate websites:
http://www.chevrolet.com
http://www.hertz.com

Bob Twaalfhoven

Bob Twaalfhoven + is My Perfect Automobile’s Genius Owner and Visionary Creator, but people just call him “Bob T”.. Here is his full Bio: Bob Twaalfhoven. Bob lives in San Jose, CA and is also the Founder of BobCAD-CAM software. BobCAD-CAM was created by Bob, who was an engineer graduate of MIT in 1978. He created the software as a means to bring the technology of CAD/CAM to the personal computer. But overall – Bob is a lover of cars, engines and anything that is fast…

Sometimes You Just Need a Car…

Catherine Siverts — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:54:23 +0000

Enter ZipCar. ZipCar offers affordable car rental solutions to individuals, businesses, and most recently, to universities (faculty and students). It is available at many universities, and in most metropolitan areas. ZipCar is the world’s largest car sharing and car club service and as such will continue to be available in more and more areas.

Now ZipCar is offering more and more “green” vehicles that are available for rent.

The way it works is an individual signs up for the ZipCar service. Then the customer is sent a ZipCar card which can then be used to claim reservations. Once you’re a member of the program, you can go on http://www.zipcar.com and make a reservation. You, the customer, can browse by cars nearby, time, location, price and model to book your reservation. You can book a car anywhere from minutes to months in advance.

An interesting thing we are starting to see with services like this; a revolution in transportation. Not only is ZipCar adding more and more EVs and Hybrids to their fleet, but this is becoming a far more common way of getting around. Instead of university-goers owning their own cars (or not), more and more are opting for the happy medium; doing without the added expense of owning a car most of the time, and having a car “on demand” when you want one.

Individuals choosing this sort of “diet” are more and more often are changing the way we view types of vehicles. You can actually find people refering to getting “a ZipCar for the weekend.” It would seem that ZipCar is not just a rental service but a way of life, and is becoming a brand of car in and of itself.

Catherine Siverts

Catherine Siverts is My Perfect Automobile’s Expert Author, but people call her Cat. Here is her bio: My Perfect Automobile. Catherine lives in San Jose, CA and is also a Dedicated Member of the My Perfect Automobile Team. Catherine is a lover of the Automobile as well and shares a passion for Nerdy Stuff (power), Concept, Hybrid and Electric Cars!

Hertz Rents Hybrid

Bob T — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:13:14 +0000

While visiting my family in Holland last week, my brother told me that when he arrived at the airport, Hertz had a Honda Insight Hybrid waiting for him without even asking for it. Sign of things to come!

A week earlier I had tried to rent a Hybrid from Enterprise while in the LA area. They didn’t have any available. Rates seem like it was a luxury car which defeats the purpose.

Bob Twaalfhoven

Bolloré-Pininfarina BlueCar Launching in Paris, France

Catherine Siverts — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:10:51 +0000

When I was in Paris about eight years ago, I noticed a new type of vehicle starting to show up almost everywhere: the smart car by Mercedes-Benz. From side streets to the Champs-Élysées, the smart car seemed like the car to be driving in the city of Paris. Now a new car is being prepped to steal the show.

Designed by Pininfarina, envisioned and largely financed by French billlionaire entrepreneur Vincent Bolloré, the BlueCar has emerged.

The BlueCar has some of the most cutting-edge technology and showcases a whole new type of electric battery cells. The charge-time for this vehicle is about four hours and on a full charge, the BlueCar can travel about 250km (160 miles) and can reach a maximum speed of 130 km/hr (81 mph).

The other thing that is quite interesting about the BlueCar is the unique plans for its pervasion of the Parisian automobile scene. Evolving out of Vélib’, a successful bicycle sharing program in Paris, France that began in 2007, Autolib’ is the program that will be utilizing the BlueCar.

The basic outline is that Autolib’ will provide the BlueCar at various locations. Members can purchase a subscription and then pay by the hour for rentals throughout the city. Autolib’ will offer 24-hour service for any difficulty drivers may encounter, and will foot the bill for any repairs that may be needed.

This program is being launched for a two-month trial period that started a few days ago and should be available to the public by December of this year. At the moment, only 66 BlueCars are in circulation, but another 3,000 will be delivered by the official commencement of the program in December.

While this program is only going to benefit Parisians and visitors to the eternal city, there is no doubt that this program, when proven successful, will be exported to other metropolitan areas. While you will probably not see a BlueCar on the streets of a rural town, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the BlueCar showing up in major cities around the world in short order.

Catherine Siverts

Car Sharing Firm Snags GoingGreen Award

Larry Bell — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:07:35 +0000

And The Winner Is…

Car sharing service RelayRides has been chosen as a winner of the GoingGreen Global 200 competition. AlwaysOn, a California media company, sponsors the awards, which recognize new players in the green energy arena. Because numerous recent studies have shown that car sharing programs significantly decrease individual vehicle ownership, RelayRides has affected the driving culture by allowing those who do not need a car to survive without one. Car sharing is not new to the U.S., or Europe for that matter, but RelayRides is one of the larger entities to put the theory into practice.

Old Idea, New Twist

While not the first car share company by a long shot, RelayRides does lay claim to being the first, as they put it, “neighbor to neighbor” plan ever. The business model allows owners to donate the use of their personal cars, covers everyone with insurance, and has even received major monetary backing from the likes of Google Ventures and other environmental venture capital organizations.

Tony Perkins, the editor of AlwaysOn, explained that each year’s selection process gets more and more competitive, since a growing number of small companies enter the marketplace with the intention of making the planet a more hospitable place. What was a tiny, poorly funded sector of the economy just a decade ago, is now a robust genre all its own, spawning green car manufacturers, alternative fuel developers, and related industries like car sharing and electric vehicle rental agencies.

San Francisco’s City Hall will be the location for Sept. 27’s gala event, when AlwaysOn sponsors the GoingGreen Silicon Valley expo. Everything green, from transportation methods to industrial solutions, will be on the agenda. The selection process for finalists took three months, during which time AlwaysOn’s editors picked winners from a pool of nominees that literally spanned the green tech industry. Unlike some other car sharing plans, RelayRides uses cars that are already on the road, so to speak. That avoids the pitfall of other services, which merely end up putting more wheels on the road, and have little or no positive impact on the environment.

Larry Bell

Peugeot Helps London Go Electric

Larry Bell — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:34:39 +0000

Responding to growing customer demand for electric rental vehicles, Europe’s largest rental network, Europcar, will add EV’s to its fleets in the United Kingdom. As a natural extension of the company’s recent agreements with PSA Peugeot Citroen, this initial wave of electric cars will feature Peugeot iONs exclusively, and will be based in major airport centers. Europcar’s managing director, Ken McCall, echoed what so many corporations and smaller companies have stated, namely that the move will both reduce company expenses and benefit the environment.

For customers, the new Peugeot iON models will allow them to avoid pricey UK road congestion fees, drive in quiet comfort, and see respectable range distances of approximately 60 miles. After this pilot phase, though Europcar is not using that term, the company announced that it would add other green vehicles to its rental fleets, to include hybrid drive cars and additional electric models. For this initial arrangement, customers can only rent the Peugeots for one day, and must return them to one of the electric rental centers. Europcar spokespersons said they want customers to get used to properly charging the cars, and this one-day rental policy is meant as a break-in measure only.

McCall added that due to the nature of the rental customers’ demographic, mostly business and short-drive users, the electric Peugeot iONs would be ideal, with a range well over the average jaunt distance for such customers.

Europcar has outlets in more than 150 nations, a base of more than 6 million customers, and a corporate staff of 6,600 regular employees. Europcar was winner of the inaugural World Travel Award, which is bestowed on a corporation that shows commitment to ecologically sound transportation goals. As further proof of the rental giant’s green credentials, Europcar took the award home again in 2010. The company is a subsidiary of Paris-based French investment behemoth Eurazeo, a public company founded in 2001.

Larry Bell

Marriott, Hertz Ink Car Sharing Plan

Larry Bell — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:44:32 +0000

Marriott Hotels and Hertz Car Rental this week announced a unique car-sharing program to be launched in the San Francisco area, whereby drivers can use electric cars on a short-term basis. The plan’s official tag is Hertz On Demand, and through it, customers can sign up for membership, choose an electric vehicle, and be driving in a matter of minutes. Marriott and Hertz are not new to joint business ventures, sharing a 30-plus year history of collaboration in the travel and rental car sector.

Hertz CEO and chairman Mark Frissora explained that San Francisco was chosen due to its high population of so-called “early adopters” of the new EV technology. He further expressed a desire to expand the program to other locations. For its part, Marriott spokespersons commented that the availability of EV’s, as well as on-site charging stations, would go a long way in providing convenient travel options for hotel guests. Besides being the only company to offer EV rental to Americans and Brits, Hertz is unique among auto renters in its desire to use car rental as a way to introduce diverse demographic segments to the new technology.

In San Francisco and elsewhere, Hertz offers both plug-in hybrids as well as all-electric cars. Marriott is promoting the plan by offering free charging and valet parking to anyone using the hotel, or dining in the Flights 101 lounge. Drivers who just want to rent an EV without the promotional package will pay a small fee, around $8, for each hour of driving.

In keeping with its airport-centered location strategy, Hertz has chosen this specific hotel for its proximity to SFO International. While Marriott owns more than 500 hotels in over 50 countries, Hertz boasts 8,500 rental centers in nearly150 nations worldwide. Given the immense geographic coverage of these two corporations, this new car-sharing program could grow at lightning speed within a short span of time.

Larry Bell

Going on a Vacation? Try Out a Plug-In

Catherine Siverts — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:30:37 +0000

The fact that you can rent a car from Enterprise is nothing new to vacationers. The fact that visitors to Hawaii will soon be able to rent a fully electric, plug-in vehicle from Enterprise, is.

Enterprise has already been renting plug-in vehicles for a short time, but are planning to increase their fleet in the immediate future to include 500 electric vehicles by the end of this year.

Prices vary but remain relatively modest, between $55 to $80 per day. Some could say that this is the perfect opportunity to take a long test-drive before deciding if an electric car is right for you.

Whether you just want to try it out or do something different on your next vacation, if you book an electric vehicle from Enterprise next time, you won’t have to worry about a refueling fee if you return the car with less than a full charge!

Catherine Siverts