Enterprise adds 5000 hybrid cars to their rental fleet

by Scott Carmichael on

People are apparently not renting cars as often as they used to. But while some car rental firms are closing up shop, others are taking those lemons and making “green lemonade”.

Enterprise rent-a-car just announced a massive expansion to their hybrid rental fleet.

The chain is adding 5000 new hybrid vehicles, and expanding their “hybrid branch” lineup. Already, 27 Enterprise locations offer online and phone reservations of a hybrid vehicle, and that number is set to rise to 80 within a couple of months.

The Enterprise hybrid lineup offers the Ford Escape, Toyota Prius and the Toyota Camry.

Sadly, being green comes at a price. A regular airport rental with Enterprise (for a standard car) is about $30/day, but to protect the environment in a hybrid, you’ll pay about $70/day. Ouch.

Still, it’s nice to see a major rental company making a difference, and it is always great when customers at least have the option to rent green.

NYC’s Taxis go Hybrid: Yellow Can be Green

by Iva Skoch on

NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg announced a plan to have the entire NYC fleet of taxicabs change to hybrids within five years. With 13,000 cabs, this is a tall order.

There are about 400 hybrid taxis currently in use now, and they’ve had good reviews from riders and drivers. Taxi models include the Toyota Prius, the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h, and the Ford Escape. Expect the number to double next year, and increase until the whole fleet is hybrid in 2012.

The fuel savings will be enormous. The current standard taxicab, a Ford Crown Victoria (at right), averages 14 miles to the gallon (mpg), while a hybrid Ford Escape can average 36 mpg. This can translate into savings of $10,000 in gasoline! And that’s not to mention the reduced carbon emissions footprint.

This is all part of Bloomberg’s greening efforts, which might include congestion charges as well. And this is coming from the city that already is one of the greenest in America.