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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramentans will soon be able to rent electric vehicles similar to the way they can now rent JUMP Bikes.
The initiative is part of the $44-million grant Sacramento received from Electrify America and, as was outlined in Curbed this week, part of a greater effort by the city to combat climate change.
"We are in fact becoming the center of electric vehicle technology. The center of alternative fuel technology," Sacramento's Mayor Darrell Steinberg told ABC10. "All of these futuristic ideas are actually being tested and implemented here in the capital city."
So what's coming?
- More charging stations
- An electric shuttle service from UC Davis to Sacramento
- A car-sharing service, Envoy, that will put electric vehicles (EVs, as people call them) for rent at 79 properties in mainly low-income areas
- A car sharing service, Gig, that will put 260 EVs around the city for people to rent. ("Electric vehicles you can rent for an hour or two and just leave at your destination like JUMP Bikes," Steinberg explained.)
Envoy will launch in the coming weeks. Gig is expected to launch next year.
"It's going to be easier for people to get around and we're going to be doing more than our fair share at leading to a better climate," Steinberg said.
Speaking of bikes, Jim Brown with the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates says, while the city's efforts are good, the best way to really help climate change would be to get cars, in general, off the streets.
"Simply focusing on electric vehicles isn't enough," Brown said. "We need to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. We need to give people more options for traveling other than cars."
Steinberg acknowledged that more needs to be done to make Sacramento more bike friendly, but said the plans in place now are only the beginning.
"It's incredibly exciting," he said, "Because we're on the ground floor of something really big."
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