Zipcar To Add 5 Chevy Volts To Its Fleet; 3 Electric Cars For I-Go
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago has been chosen as the city where the Zipcar auto sharing service will begin offering Chevrolet Volts.
As WBBM Newsradio's Felicia Middlebrooks reports, the Chicago Tribune says Zipcar Inc., one of two major car sharing services in Chicago, plans to launch its first large-scale electric vehicle pilot program in the Chicago market as a part.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Felicia Middlebrooks reports
Podcast
Zipcar will add five Volts to its Chicago fleet now, and 20 more will be coming later in the year, the Tribune reported.
Zipcar currently has 450 vehicles in more than 275 locations, but the total number of vehicles in Chicago is expected to reach 700 by the end of the year, the newspaper reported.
The first Volts will be stationed at the Cityfront Place Apartments on McClurg Court in Streeterville, and in University Village at the University of Illinois at Chicago, according to the Tribune.
Zipcar officials tell the Tribune they chose Chicago to start offering Volts because of efforts underway to boost infrastructure for public charging for electric vehicles.
A bank of new electric car charging stations opened earlier this week in a parking lot at the Illinois Institute of Technology, at 32nd and State streets.
Also, in December, the Chicago Transit Authority Board a plan to install electric vehicle chargers at the Park and Ride lot at Kimball and Lawrence avenues in the Albany Park neighborhood. They will be the first ever such facilities at a CTA station.
The for-profit Zipcar competes locally with I-Go, a not-for-profit car-sharing service. I-Go is in the midst of adding 36 all-electric cars, and 18 publicly available solar charging stations, the Tribune reported.
As of Thursday, I-Go already has three electric cars available for its members – a Nissan Leaf and two Mitsubishi MiEVs, the newspaper reported.
