Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hertz, and Avis-Budget have all recently added a few thousand hybrids to their fleets. By the end of the year, Enterprise—the world’s largest automobile fleet in the world—will have ordered about 4,500 Priuses. Hertz is aiming to have 3,500 hybrids in their fleet by the end of 2008, and Avis-Budget is not far behind. Which company should you use to rent your next car?
It’s taken a while for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to realize that hybrid taxis are a no-brainer. Yesterday, he announced a plan that would require all of the Big Apple’s taxi cabs to be gas-electric hybrids by 2012.
via Reuters
May 23, 2007
On its route from niche to mainstream acceptance, hybrids shed their elite image. Now, hybrid limo services bring a little bit of luxury back into the equation—along with eco-consciousness and common sense.
In a personality shift that would make Madonna jealous, the hybrid gas-electric vehicle is being transformed from ecoweenie-mobile to lean green crime-fighting machine. Law enforcement departments across the country are considering the use of hybrid vehicles as police cruisers.
A $2.5 million dollar grant from the Florida Renewable Energy Grants Program will allow Central Florida’s public bus system, Lynx, to power its 290 diesel-powered buses on a biodiesel blend.
New York’s Mayor Bloomberg put forth a proposal that would require the city’s 10,000-plus black for-hire town cars to meet a new set of fuel efficiency standards over the next two years.
While green car enthusiasts wait for the next generation of hybrids that use different fuel sources or rely more on electricity, big cities are now placing orders for buses that combine hybrid controls, diesel engines, and electric drives. Yesterday, Daimler AG received an order for 850 of its Orion VII hybrid diesel-electric buses from MTA, the agency that oversees public transit in New York. The new order will double the MTA’s diesel hybrid bus fleet to 1,700, making it the largest in the world.
King County, Washington made the decision to “go hybrid” because hybrid vehicles mean lower CO2 emissions, greater overall fuel economy, and lower maintenance costs. But the county also conserved fuel and money, and achieved a number of other objectives that serve community and national interests.
In making the decision to convert to hybrid vehicles, the King County Fleet Division extensively researched the level of support for this initiative, and created strategic partnerships.
Be prepared. Introducing hybrids into your fleet will present its share of challenges. Your task, as you go hybrid, will be to identify the opportunities and benefits that such a move will offer; and anticipate the challenges and obstacles that you and your agency may encounter.
