CEO Says a Heavily Electric Fleet for Zipcar Will Be Long Time Coming
By John O'Dell July 20, 2009
Despite the announcement earlier this month that it is adding an EV, a plug-in hybrid and a battery charging station to its London system, car-sharing service Zipcar is a long, long way from offering a wide selection of EVs, its CEO said in a recent interview.
The company is committed to zero-emissions vehicles, but needs to see data about maintenance costs, battery reliability, battery-charging infrastructure needs and, as makes sense for a company that makes its money putting cars into service, the "opportunity cost for having the car sit (idle) for charging," Zipcar's Scott Griffith told Earth2Tech.com.
Zipcar will go electric as soon as possible, he said, but he added that he believes it will take longer than many imagine for electric vehicles to become part of the automotive mainstream.
We hope he's wrong about that but we share his concern that EVs need rapid battery-charge systems to become universally acceptable.
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