Business owners with a green streak, those located at Hacienda in Pleasanton, California, specifically, will be happy to note that City CarShare has added thirty Toyota iQ EV to the DASH car-sharing fleet.
The Scion iQ EV, which is pretty much the same as the Scion iQ, but with an all-electric powertrain, unfortunately, is not available to the general public. With the rapidly-broadening interest in electric vehicles, +500% in the last year or so, it is surprising that Toyota hasn’t made the Scion iQ EV a production model, but it may have something to do with the $45,000 price tag. For the time being, just one hundred of the sub-compact electric vehicle have been produced, specifically for car-sharing and fleet programs.
One of those programs, City CarShare, in Northern California, recently partnered with Toyota to bring thirty Scion iQ EV to a car-sharing program in Pleasanton. Based at the Hacienda, pretty much the center of the San Francisco Bay area and home to over 500 companies, City CarShare’s DASH car-sharing fleet takes up fully 30% of the global Scion iQ EV fleet, to provide fully-electric and emissions-free transportation.
The Scion iQ EV could be the ideal car-sharing vehicle for busy business people at Hacienda, a small and maneuverable electric vehicle with enough range, about 40 miles, to run errands or make that all-important lunch meeting with potential investors. Best of all, because it is all-electric, it has zero tailpipe emissions. Given that the power mix in California is the 6th cleanest in the Nation, the Scion iQ EV is far cleaner than the average conventional vehicle.
The pilot program will locate thirty Scion iQ EV, and their charging stations, both in and around Hacienda, the 875 acre complex located in Pleasanton, California. “Toyota is exploring new business models like the City Car Share Dash fleet to meet the future mobility needs of our customers,” said Craig Scott, advanced technology vehicle manager for Toyota Motor Sales. “The Scion iQ EV fleet will help us understand how electric vehicles are used in an active car sharing program and the viability of this type of program for future technologies.”
Image © City CarShare [screenshot]
