Electric Car Sharing Service Starts Up in Baltimore

Baltimorians are so lucky. Lots of cool stuff is there, like director John Waters, television series “The Wire,” and now an electric car sharing service. AltCar operates similarly to widespread car-sharing venture ZipCar, but with a twist: all the cars in the AltCar fleet are zero-emissions battery-electric vehicles. Cars can be reserved through the AltCar web site.

The cars currently in the fleet are all neighborhood electric vehicles, or NEVs. The company calls them “city cars.” Whatever you call them, they can only travel on streets posted at 35 mph or below.  AltCar promises to bring highway-capable cars to the fleet in the next few months. It also anticipates adding plug-in hybrids to the fleet.

AltCar has a monthly membership fee of $25, with 15 hours of car sharing for $90. Insurance and parking fees are included, and there’s no gas involved. One charge gets you up to 120 miles, and a full recharge takes 8 hours. But a quick one-hour charge adds 25 miles or so of driving time.