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Will rental car companies ding you for returning half-charged electric vehicles? Enterprise won't.
Here's a shocker in more ways than one. Earlier this month, Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced that it would soon be offering Chevrolet's Volt at the company's Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario, California, and we reasonably assumed that renters best watch out for any unforeseen charges that may arise from returning it with a dead (or near-dead) stash of batteries. For anyone who has rented a gasoline-powered automobile in the past score, you'll know that returning a whip with a fuel tank that's just 90 percent full won't quite cut it, and you'll be stuck ponying up for your oversight. Thankfully -- at least at Enterprise -- a similar surcharge setup will not be applied to electric vehicles. Lisa Martini, a spokesperson for Enterprise, got in touch with us to clarify the outfit's plans, and they're shockingly consumer-friendly: "[Enterprise] does not plan to charge customers for bringing back EVs without a full charge. Enterprise is installing charging stations at locations that will offer EVs, and plans to charge the vehicles once they're returned." That pretty much sums it up for at least one major rental company, and we can only hope that everyone else publishes similar intentions before their accountants publish something to the contrary. Power to the people, eh?
Enterprise to offer Chevy Volt in California, probably ding you for bringing it back half-charged
Not one to be one-upped by Hertz -- which already announced a plug-in rental program that'll include the almighty Tesla Roadster and the diminutive Smart Fortwo -- Enterprise Rent-A-Car has just announced that it'll be the first to offer Chevrolet's Volt later in the month. The company's Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario, California will have an undisclosed amount in stock for daily and weekly rentals, and it sounds as if it'll be grappling for more just as soon as they roll off of the production line. For those who can't quite make it down to the desert, Enterprise will be offering 500 Nissan Leaf vehicles nationwide, with charging stations already installed in Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Monica. No word on what type of fee you'll be hit with when you bring it back with only 20 percent of the batteries charged, but you can rest assured the bigwigs at Enterprise are already thinking about it. Update: Good news, everyone! Enterprise replied to us, and it won't be charging customers for bringing EVs back with less than a full charge. Huzzah!
Hertz plug-in rental program to boast 1,000 vehicles, including the Tesla Roadster
Hertz is getting serious about its about-to-launch, by-the-hour plug in car rental service Connect by Hertz. Set to launch on December 15th in New York City, the company has plans to extend the service into San Francisco, Washington D.C, Texas and London by the end of 2011. The list of cars in the fleet which will be available to rent now includes the previously announced Nissan Leaf, the Volt, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the Tesla Roadster, the Smart ED, and the Coda Sedan. The program will start extremely small, with only 20 total vehicles available to rent to begin with, but with a plan for between 500 and 1,000 by the end of 2011. The Hertz EV rental program has a fee to join up, and the cars will be rented on a first come, first served basis, but you can sign up now if you're ready to get behind the wheel of one of the aforementioned silent bad boys.
Hertz to start renting all-electric Smart Fortwo EDs next week
It may still not amount to much of a dent in the company's complete fleet of vehicles, but Hertz has just announced that it will start renting out the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive vehicle on December 15th, which follows recent announcements that it will soon be offering the all-electric Coda Sedan and Nissan Leaf in selected markets. As you might expect, however, the Smart ED will also be somewhat limited in availability, with San Francisco, New York and Washington D.C. being the only locations included in the initial rollout, and no word on any additional cities to follow. Head on past the break for the complete press release.
