The rent-a-car premise has been turned on its ear by
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Zipcar. The company allows city dwellers to
reserve cars online for hourly and daily use without the hassles of a rental
car center. Zipcar has spread its revolutionary approach nationwide from
Atlanta to Seattle with additional lots available at 100 college campuses. The
company’s recent agreement with Westminster City Council to create a Zipcar lot
in the London borough shows intentions to take this unique idea overseas.
Zipcar is committed to providing a 100-vehicle fleet to
Westminster by September 2009. The company will deliver 20 hybrids
including the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight Hybrid as part of its initial
fleet. Zipcar also provides traditional vehicles such as the Mini Cooper and
BMW 318 to its partners for drivers interested in style and power over fuel savings. The
Westminster/Zipcar agreement also yields the country’s first all-electric
rental vehicle, an electric version of the Citroen C1 developed by Toyota,
Peugeot and Citroen.
Westminster City Council and Zipcar have set a goal of 400
vehicles in the car club fleet by 2012 with 30% hybrid vehicles. The borough
plans to spread out car lots evenly in places like Marlyebone, Regent’s Park
and Mayfair to facilitate rentals from walkers, bus riders and inner city
residents. Westminster is ideally suited for a Zipcar franchise considering the
area’s EV infrastructure. The city has 14 public charging points and 48
charging stations in secured lots at the moment. Westminster plans to install
six additional public stations by January 2010 to anticipate plug-in and
electric vehicle rollouts.
The Zipcar model works best in dense cities where residents
are likely to bike, take buses and walk to work instead of owning cars.
Westminster residents will demonstrate the efficacy of the next step in the
Zipcar model for a long-term global rollout. The city’s well-developed charging
infrastructure gives it a leg-up on the EV aspect of its Zipcar agreement,
which could be a bump in the road for future additions. Zipcar representatives
are fond of pointing out that a single Zipcar unit is equivalent to removing 20
vehicles from the road, thereby reducing mileage by 40% among subscribers. If
Westminster’s Zipcar lots are successful, the hope is that cities
worldwide are willing to invest in this business model to
further reduce congestion and greenhouse emissions. Zipcar’s lone barrier to
wider success in the United States is the nagging culture of vehicle ownership
that makes daily rentals seem onerous to consumers.
