Last Week in Carsharing News: Car2Go, Shared Plugs, P2P Legislation

As I have begun to follow the news across the shared economy, it's becoming increasingly apparent that it may be best to bucket together carsharing news.  Almost everyday a service is adding to its fleet, expanding operations, or a new company is popping up somewhere.  This may be a running edition every week or two, but here's my first carsharing weekly wrap-up.

Communauto to Add 50 Nissan Leaf to Fleet in July 2011

Nissan hopes to build stronger consumer support and better consumer education for its all-electric Leaf through a partnership with Montreal carsharing service, Communauto.  The 50 Leaf vehicles will be added to the Communauto fleet of 1,200 cars in July to help promote the vehicle sales and adoption rates in Canada.  Communauto will charge the same rates for the Leaf as other conventional vehicles in its fleet and will install fifty charging stations across to accommodate for the vehicles.

Source: Nissan Leaf homepage

Connect by Hertz is First In Line for Renault EV

Hertz announced this week that it will be one of the first buyers of the new Twizy EV from Renault.  Connect by Hertz will add 500 Twizy units to its fleet over the next two years across its European locations.  The Twizy (pictured below) is a small, practical vehicle, designed for city-driving.  It combines motor bike and motor vehicle technologies and is priced at $9,600.

Upcoming Must-See Documentary: "The Revenge of the Electric Car"

It had been ten years since its death, but the electric car is coming back stronger than ever.  Filmmaker Chris Paine brings us its inspiring and vengeful story in the new documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car.  Paine is the maker of the 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? The film's website offers fans the opportunity to bring a screening to their city, so sign up and vote to bring this film to a theater in your neighborhood.  The trailer is embedded below and is outstanding.  If you have seen the first documentary, you have to be excited for this upcoming release, which is slated for Spring 2011.

Brussels Welcomes Zen Car, an Electric-Vehicle Carshare Fleet

During March, Zen Car will launch a fleet of 29 electric vehicles in Brussels.  The vehicles can be returned across the city at one of fifteen charging stations.  The company will charge a 40 euro initiation fee, along with a monthly membership fee of 6 euro.  Vehicles can be rented for 7 euro per hour.  Zen Car will be 100% electric vehicles, adding to Brussels' effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: www.fastcompany.com