The world’s largest car sharing club is ready to make an impact in the UK as ZipCar and the Westminster City Council launched a new car sharing club fleet.
The fleet will initially include 20 hybrid vehicles and offer members access to the country’s first all-electric car club vehicle the Citroen C1. Motorists will also be able to drive a plug-in version of the Toyota Prius, as well as the Honda Insight Hybrid. There is something for fans of conventional cars too with vehicles such as the MINI Cooper and BMW 318 to choose from.
ZipCar hopes to bring more than 100 vehicles to locations across Westminster, including Covent Garden, Soho and Regent’s Park, by September. From there, the company aims to have 400 vehicles by 2012 – approximately 30 per cent of which will be hybrids.
Currently Westminster Council boasts the largest on-street car recharging service in the UK with 14 dedicated charging points. It aims to increase this number to 20 by the end of the year with an additional 48 charging points in the council’s secure car parks.
According to studies, each car club vehicle removes around 20 privately owned vehicles from the road with the cars to be located within easy walking distance of offices and homes.
