Eight Toyota Prius are now available to Zipcar car-sharing service members in Boston, San Francisco, and Portland. The introduction of the Toyota Prius to Zipcar's fleet is part of a pilot program designed to explore how next-generation electric technology can work in expansive car-share programs.
"Zipcar is an ideal test bed for early consumer acceptance of EVs," says Scott Griffith, Chairman and CEO, Zipcar. "This project will allow companies to receive direct feedback from thousands of consumers in three different cities and help evaluate how EVs fit into a large-scale car sharing model."1
Toyota's plug-in Prius, which isn't officially scheduled to hit showrooms until next year, can run at 62 mph on pure electric power for about 13 miles. It then shifts into conventional Prius hybrid mode, averaging about 50 mpg.
Zipcar is planning to use both 110-volt outlets (charge time: 3 hours) and 220-volt chargers (charge time: 1.5 hours) to optimize its availability of its new Toyota Prius fleet. The plug-in Toyota Prius will be available at $7.00/hr.
It should be noted that this isn't Zipcar's first stint at going green. The company actually launched its first all-electric car-share pod in London, in 2009. The cars consisted of non other than a converted plug-in Prius, and a pure electric Citroën C1. Later in 2009, the car-share company introduced the converted plug-in Toyota Prius to its San Francisco market.
[SOURCE]1