Early in this new year, VW will start delivering the rest of 142 all-electric Golf sedans to 70 locations in the area for a ride-sharing program like ZipCar set up by Southern California-based Envoy and Electrify America. Twenty vehicles were delivered in 2018 in an initial phase.
This is part of the emissions fraud case settlement with VW. The vehicles have an estimated range of 125 miles. Sacramento was selected as a pioneer area for this deployment after a successful campaign by local officials and activists as a premier site to test this new approach to mobility. Envoy has other car sharing programs in operation in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco and New York. Envoy uses the Fiat 500e, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla vehicles in these other deployments as well. For VW, it is a clever way to get its vehicles into the market while getting credit as part of the settlement.
For more details on how the program will work, go here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.