Fisker Green Car Advisor Blog on Edmunds' Inside Line

August 11, 2008

Business Is Brisk at Nation's First Rental Car Company That Loans Only Hybrids

With established rent-a-car companies reporting that they are having trouble meeting customer demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, a Southern California company has begun renting nothing but hybrid vehicles.

Business has been brisk at Eqocar in Burbank since it opened its doors three months ago, General Manager Nick Hamed told Green Car Advisor today. Hamed said Eqocar, which rents only hybrid vehicles, is in talks to open four more rental-car centers, all in California.

Eventually, the company would like to expand nationwide, Hamed said.

Eqocar has a fleet of 45 hybrids, which include the Toyota Prius, Camry and Highlander hybrids, Ford Escape Hybrid, Lexus LS600h L, GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe hybrids, and the Nissan Altima hybrid. Daily rates range from $59 for the Prius to $650 for the LS600h L.

There are plans to add the extended-range plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt, hybrid versions of the Smart Fortwo, Chrysler Aspen, Cadillac Escalade, and Porsche Cayenne and Panamera, as well as the Tesla and Fisker plug-in sports cars and the bubbled-faced three-wheel Aptera to the rental fleet, Hamed said.

The Aptera is reminiscent of vehicles appearing in The Jetsons, a futuristic cartoon series produced during 1962 and '63.

Scott Doggett, Contributor

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett August 11, 2008, 2:42 PM
Categories:: Aptera, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daimler, Emissions, Fisker, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Lexus, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Porsche, Smart, Tesla, Toyota
Technorati Tags:: Camry Hybrid

July 22, 2008

Japan Inc. Reportedly Working on Uniform Lithium-Ion Battery Standard

Lithium Ion battery packs being tested in U.S. at Argonne National Laboratory.

We don't think this is one of those signs and portents that mark the impending end of the world, but it does seem a near miracle: Several Japanese automakers, battery developers and power companies reportedly have agreed to work together to establish a global standard for lithium-ion batteries.

If you can remember back to the late 1990s and early 2000s and the days of the EV1, Nissan Altra, Toyota RAV4 EV and other first-generation electric vehicles built in extremely limited numbers to meet California's then-new Zero Emissions Vehicles mandate, you'll also remember that there were several types of batteries in use and two competing charging systems required.

That added more complexity and cost to an already complex and costly new-vehicle development program and helped hasten the demise of hopes for a vast fleet of readily available, affordable and easy-to-charge EVs.

A global standard, which means - among other things - that all battery systems would be designed to use the use the same recharging system, is one of the things needed if there is to be any chance of bringing back the battery-electric vehicle in a meaningful way.