We recently reported to you that the city of Milton Keynes, in the UK, is replacing eight buses on Route #7 with electric versions. They will be inductively charged at three places on the route.
The pilot program involves replacing eight standard diesel-powered buses that typically run a total of 450,000 miles per year, saving money on fuel, maintenance, and eliminating tons of carbon-dioxide emissions.
Milton Keynes is now the first city in the world to feature an all-electric vehicle [EV] car-sharing fleet. E-Car Club‘s Marketing and Community Engagement Manager, Charlie Quigley, said: “It’s the UK’s first entirely electric car rental club. It provides flexibility for our customers to gain access to the car when they need it without owning one. You can book it for an hour, up to a couple of days.”
Car-sharing fleets are gaining popularity in many cities because of the high cost of ownership involved in vehicles, which goes only higher when you consider garage parking fees. City dwellers who may need a car maybe once a week or less really can’t justify the cost of a personal vehicle. Milton Keynes’ E-Car Club goes one better and offers only EV car rentals.
For a £50 ($80) one-time registration fee and £6.50 ($10.40) per hour, E-Car Club members can eschew traditional car-sharing, and drive a pollution-free EV, only when they need it. The Nissan Leaf they share has a range up to 95 miles, but requires 8 hours of charging after that, so isn’t meant for excessive trips. E-Car Club also shares a small hatchback, the Renault ZOE EV, and a light commercial van, the Ranault Kangoo Maxi.
