Let’s be honest…cars are pretty cool.
They allow us to travel from one place to another in a short amount of time and when we so choose. But what happens when you travel out-of-town and have to rent a car that isn’t as comfortable, high-tech, or fuel-efficient as your car at home?
Enterprise, the company that “picks you up”, is out electric rental cars this month to 8 different markets equipped with adequate charging stations.
Enterprise will delivering 500 Nissan LEAFs to 8 such markets. Those cities include:
- Los Angeles and San Diego, CA
- Knoxville as well as Nashville, TN
- Seattle, WA
- Portland, OR
- Tucson, Arizona
Interested?? Here is some information on the LEAF that makes this “green” effort by Enterprise so cool.
- Zero emission vehicle – (ZEV) for all of you who dig cool abbreviations
- Hold up to 5 passengers – perfect for those road trips with family and friends
- Reaches speeds of up to 90mph – for all of you speeders out there, I won’t tell 😉
- Can be charged using both a standard 110-volt outlet (your typical home outlet) and a 220- or 480-volt charging station
Why is Enterprise taking such a leading role in greening the rental car business?
According to Lee Broughton, director of sustainability at Enterprise,
“As a company that owns and operates the world’s largest fleet of passenger vehicles, we have a vested interest and a history of working with manufacturers to integrate alternative-powered vehicles into our fleet”.
He goes on to say,
“With airport and neighborhood locations within 15 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population, our Enterprise Rent-A-Car offices are uniquely positioned to test the market viability of new alternative fuel technologies like the electric vehicle with daily commuters nationwide”.
How cool is that, right? Even in this not-so-great economy, Enterprise is taking the lead to offer vehicles that will allow us to minimize our impact on the environment while traveling.
(Not to mention make Lance Armstrong happy.)
The company also plans to continue to rolling out LEAFs to more rental markets throughout the year.
I also know that like me, some of you may be bummed that you’re not the magical age of 25 – the age required to rent a car. But even though I’m not able to take advantage of Enterprise’s new green rental fleet, I still appreciate what they’re doing.
Would you allow Enterprise to “pick you up” in a LEAF next time you need a car rental?
I’m an outdoorsy and recently graduated from college yogi. In the past few years I’ve learned lots of simple steps to becoming greener and have found living green to not only be rewarding, but easy. I hope to pass on some of these simple ideas to you too!
