The Green Mile
By Ashley Cook
One of the city’s latest green-tech agendas is San Diego’s new Car2Go program, North America’s first fleet of allelectric, shared vehicles.
The program will include 300 blue-and-white electric cars and a network of 1,500 Blink electric vehicle chargers (the first 10 of which will be located in Balboa Park, with others located near Car2Go
designated parking spaces around town).
The roomy, two-person vehicles will be available for rental by the mile, hour or day. Though rental rates are still being negotiated between city officials and Austin-based Car2Go, in Austin, rates are $12.99 per hour or $65.99 per day.
By swiping a membership card, drivers can jump inside any of the cars (locatable via cell phone or the Internet) and take one for a joy ride of up to 84 miles (or a less joyful trek to the office), and then leave the vehicle at any legal parking space within Car2Go’s service area.
Jonathan Read, CEO of ECOtality, a San Francisco-based company partnering with Car2Go on the program, says the stations will create the “robust public infrastructure” necessary to support a wide-range of
electric vehicles.
The program, says Mayor Jerry Sanders, is designed to make green-friendly practices accessible to more than hard-core environmentalists.
“For those who’ve chosen a more walkable, urban lifestyle, but still need a vehicle for errands, this is an ideal solution,” Sanders says.