Car-sharing company Zipcar has ordered 325 all-electric Volkswagen e-Golfs for London members. The new cars will be available to hire through the new Zipcar Flex service, which allows ‘drive and drop’ one-way vehicle rentals.
The expansion into fully-electric e-Golfs is a development of Zipcar’s existing Volkswagen deal, which has seen the car-share firm run plug-in hybrid Golf GTEs for the past two years. “Thousands” of people have since got behind the wheel.
It’s Volkswagen’s 2017 revisions to the e-Golf that seem to have encouraged Zipcar to go EV. The car’s range was improved to 186 miles on the NEDC cycle, which VW says translates into a realistic real-world range of 124 miles – meaning the cars can viably be used as daily drivers without the need for frequent recharges.
A larger capacity lithium ion battery – up from 24.2 kWh to 35.8 kWh – also helps the latest e-Golf deliver 15 percent more power, and run from 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds.
Volkswagen UK director Alison Jones is excited by the deal. “Thousands of Zipcar members will experience electric driving, perhaps for the first time, and we know they will love the functionality and ease of use that the all-electric e-Golf provides.”
The UK importer’s head of marketing, Geraldine Ingham, said there was evidence inner-city residents are looking for new alternatives to car ownership – they like the flexibility of cars, but not the complications of actually owning one.
“This development of the relationship between Volkswagen and Zipcar offers the best of both worlds: the benefits of access to a car and zero emission motoring across the UK’s capital.”
Zipcar UK general manager Jonathan Hampson says the deal is another key milestone for Zipcar and “another step towards our vision for a greener London where car sharers outnumber car owners, making our amazing city an even better place to live for all”.
Londoners can now sign up for a Zipcar UK account online, and then rent one of the new e-Golfs either online or via the firm’s app.
