Swapping big cars for small!

[drivingsteve]

Over in the UK there are a lot of city car companies. One in particular is a bit different as it allows you to drive a low emission car during the week and a sports car at the weekend. (see Quadriga. Intelligent Car Ownership. )

Now I know it's not the most 100% effecient 'green' concept, but it is getting a lot of attention in the UK because it's getting people out of the gas guzzling Range Rovers and into greener cars for the bulk of the time, people who would have otherwise stayed in their big cars.

Does anyone know of anyone doing similar in the USA? I've tried googling but can't really find anything.

[MadisonMPG]

Yes, but on a much larger scale. (cash for clunkers)

[cfg83]

drivingsteve -

Welcome to EM! Is this what you are asking for? :

Car Sharing: CarSharing Programs; CarShare Network; Car Share North America, Car Sharing Canada

United States:

ZipCar - currently serving Boston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland OR, Los Angeles, Washington DC.(metro), San Diego and Atlanta, with plans to expand to over 30 cities across the U.S. Car Sharing, an alternative to car rental and car ownership – Zipcar

City CarShare - serving San Francisco and the greater Bay area with a fleet of over 200 cars. Cars have automatic transmissions. sfcarshare.org As a City CarShare member, you get driving privileges in other cities, such as Philadelphia, Austin, Madison, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Syndey (AU) and Melbourne (AU).

Boulder CarShare - Boulder city-wide carshare program. Boulder CarShare is planning to place its first neighborhood electric vehicle in the Norwood/Quince neighborhood. (August 10, 2001) Home | e-Go Carshare

I-Go - serving the greater Chicago area. I Go Cars

Hourcar - serving Minneapolis and St. Paul MN with a fleet of ToyotaPrius hybrids and Toyota Yaris cars.

Philly Car Share - serving the greater Philadelphia region with Priuses, Minis, BMWs, Elements, pickups, and more.

Austin Car Share - serving the downtown Austin, Hyde Park and Univ. of Texas areas with Scion xA's and Toyota Tacomas.

Community Car - serving Madison WI with high gas mileage and hybrid vehicles.

U Car Share - currently in Portland, OR. Portland, ME. Berkeley, CA. and Madison, WI.

CarloSW2

[bluetwo]

That's some interesting stuff up there ^^ in post 3.

Good find.

[Matt Herring]

In 2002, just after I moved to Boston a customer of mine said he was putting some money into a new company in Boston called Zipcar and my response was "Who's going to use the cars...you really think that's going to work? How do they pay for them and how do you keep people from not bringing them back?" Obviously, a concept that was a little over my head at the time.

Well...7 years later he's made a nice return on that investment. Not that I had the money at the time to buy into it but it was a gamble that paid off well for him. He has money to burn so the risk/reward was acceptable for him...I see them all over the place now. The website says there are nearly 900 zipcars in and around Boston...nice little business they have going here.

[bluetwo]

It's kind bizzare...... at first anyway.

Expensive for me but maybe not for regular travelers and I definitely like that it's got a lot of small cars. I'm sure some *****y, whiney people would've complained that there wasn't any alternative to the small car but I feel like driving a car is a reality check everybody needs to get... random, I know. But still, the small cars are kind of cool.

[rainyday]

It's definitley happening here in America. People are gradually realizing that driving a truck in the middle of Houston isn't that great. Although once they start to raise the MPG on SUV's as they are already, they will continue to sell.

[bluetwo]

That's probably true to a point rainyday, but honestly SUV's can only get so good on MPG. There isn't some magical thing that automakers have just been failing to do up to this point that they can suddenly change so SUV's will get enormous MPG numbers. Small cars and hybrids are going to continue to get better and better though I think.

[rainyday]

I'm sure there's a cut-off or a limit that carmakers can reach on increasing MPG, but as long as it looks like they are doing something, Americans will justify buying SUV's. If there's money, they will be bought.

[MadisonMPG]

I doubt they will make a SUV ever that gets over 32 on the highway.