Car sharing services like Zipcar are cropping up in communities across the nation and even around the world. Sharing a car is an eco-friendly and less expensive alternative to personal car ownership. However, Zipcar’s service is taking this eco-friendly concept further with the addition of Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) to its fleet.  

 

Although the Toyota Prius PHV won’t be available to the public until sometime next year, Zipcar will be offering the vehicle to its customers in select locations as part of the Toyota Motor Sales pilot program.

“The PHV demonstration program is designed to gather real-world driving data and customer feedback on plug-in hybrid technology, and we’re excited to be working with Zipcar to further test how this technology could have even greater environmental impact by fitting into the car sharing model,” said Mary Nickerson, national manager, advanced technology vehicles, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.  “This program will help us to educate and inform the public on plug-in hybrid technology, evaluate the performance of the vehicle under different driving conditions and better understand the benefits to future customers.” Source: Zipcar

There will be eight Toyota Prius plug-ins available to Zipcar customers during the pilot: three in the Cambridge/Boston area, three in San Francisco and two in Portland, Ore. Zipcar customers interested in taking the Prius plug-in for a spin should look for the vehicles in the following locations:

 

As the largest car-sharing service in the world, Zipcar is a natural partner for Toyota. Zipcar currently has over 530,000 members in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Members have access to 8,000 vehicles and can choose to rent a vehicle by the hour or by the day. For more information or to reserve a Prius plug-in hybrid, visit the Zipcar website.