The Haifa municipality, in cooperation with Haifa District Municipal Association for Environmental Protection (HDMAE) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, has begun promoting a pilot program for shared vehicles in the city and surrounding area. The plan includes electric cars rented by the hour that will be made available to the public at various sites in the city. As part of the plan, the Haifa municipality signed an agreement with car2to for the operation of an electric car rental service. The selected service model will enable vehicle users to collect a vehicle at a one location and return it at any of the charging stations scattered around the city. car2go representatives will meet with the municipality's professional team, including engineers and operations personnel, in the coming days to prepare a map of vehicle charging stations in Haifa.
Auto industry sources told "Globes" that in the first stage, car2go plans to buy or lease a fleet of 120 completely electric cars and 80 hybrid cars for the project, with an option to expand the number of electric cars, depending on the price.
The cars will be charged at 120 charging points to be built by Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) at strategic locations. Each point will charge two cars simultaneously. car2go is expected to begin actual procurement towards the end of the year.
Using special credit cards issued for the purpose, Haifa residents subscribing to the service will able to use the vehicles at any time without restriction at an hourly rate yet to be determined. The cost of the project is estimated at NIS 10 million.
The project in Haifa, is preempting a corresponding recently announced project by the Tel Aviv municipality that was to have been the first such project in Israel. It was decided that this project would use only purely electric vehicles. At the same time, it is currently unclear which electric cars will be order from suppliers, and at what prices. As of now, not even one electric vehicle is being imported to Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 23, 2016
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