Exxon-Backed AltCar Launches First Car-Sharing Service in U.S. to Feature EVs
By Scott Doggett June 24, 2009
AltCar this week became the first car-sharing service in the U.S. to provide members with access to a fleet of plug-in electric vehicles and gas-electric hybrids on an hourly basis.
The service, which is funded at least in part by ExxonMobil, launched in Baltimore on Tuesday with nationwide aspirations.
Although AltCar said it intends to make a mix of all-electric and hybrid-electric available to its members, at least initially the company is offering only one model.
That would be the Maya 300 (pictured), made by Maya Electric of Mississauga, Canada, and featuring a lithium-ion battery produced by Electrovaya. The zero-emissions, five-door, four-passenger EV is classified as a low- or medium-speed vehicle.
Depending on battery size, each car can travel a distance of up to 60 or up to 120 miles. Each battery contains an ExxonMobil separator film that supposedly enhances the power, safety, strength and reliability of the battery.
The big oil company has made no secret of the fact that it has invested more than $500,000 in the car-sharing program.
AltCar's Baltimore program launched with five Maya 300s. Plans call for another five cars to be added to the program in coming weeks.
The Maya 300 charges in about eight hours, plugs into a regular household outlet and will be available to consumers within a year, promised Electrovaya Chairman and CEO Sankar Das Gupta.
"It's a perfect - well, near-enough perfect - vehicle for running around in cities," Das Gupta said as he stood near a sparkling green Maya 300 outside Baltimore's waterfront Maryland Science Center, where the vehicle was being demonstrated.
Das Gupta said Maya Electric hopes to begin selling Maya 300s to the general public within a year for about $25,000 apiece.
"Ultimately, in order to drop the price of electric cars, you have to generate large volumes," explained Das Gupta, who said the lithium-ion battery his company makes constitutes 40-50 percent of the Maya 300's cost.
Das Gupta said Electrovaya hopes to supply major automakers lithium-ion batteries. He declined to say with whom he might be discussing such an arrangement.
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