City CarShare Introduces Electric Vehicle Charging Stations for Its Members at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium

City CarShare, San Francisco Department of the Environment and San Francisco Recreation and Park team up to meet San Francisco’s goal to reduce greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2025 January 07, 2014 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

SAN FRANCISCO--Jan. 11, 2014: To support San Francisco’s goal to reduce greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2025*, City CarShare, in partnership with the San Francisco Department of the Environment and San Francisco Recreation and Park, is introducing five electric vehicle charging stations for custom long range Toyota Prius plug-in and Ford C-Max Energi plug-in vehicles available to City CarShare members at Kezar Stadium, located in the historic Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. This popular location has housed five City CarShare vehicles since 2002, and will now include a total of eight parking spaces to serve City CarShare’s members.

“SF Rec and Park is pleased to add these two new chargers to our system, bringing our total EV chargers to 29”

To achieve a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, the city of San Francisco has set the goal of having 50 percent of all trips in the city made by sustainable modes, such as taking public transit, walking, biking, driving zero emission vehicles and carsharing. City CarShare is helping San Francisco achieve this goal by keeping overall car ownership low and by providing a cleaner way for residents to get around when they use carsharing. As the greenest carsharing fleet in the nation, City CarShare has already avoided 292 million pounds of CO2 from going into the atmosphere and will continue to contribute to San Francisco’s goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2025.

“City CarShare’s use of these newly installed charging stations at Kezar Stadium will support our goal to provide the greenest, most affordable alternative to car ownership in the Bay Area,” said City CarShare CEO Rick Hutchinson. “We are on pace to reduce C02 emissions in the Bay Area by 90 million pounds in 2014.”

The San Francisco Department of the Environment coordinated the planning and installation of the chargers, with support of grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission and charging equipment donated to the city by Google.

“Under Mayor Lee’s leadership, San Francisco has become a central hub for the electric vehicle market,” said Melanie Nutter, Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment. “The newly installed chargers at Kezar Stadium are making electric vehicles available to a wider audience through City CarShare. The continued adoption of electric vehicle infrastructure is key to helping meet our City’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.”

San Francisco Recreation and Park will accept responsibility for the ownership, maintenance and operation of the electric vehicle charging stations for the first 12 months of operation.

"SF Rec and Park is pleased to add these two new chargers to our system, bringing our total EV chargers to 29," said Phil Ginsburg, SF Rec and Park General Manager. "We are proud of this partnership."

Recently, City CarShare announced that it had achieved its goal of having more than 50 percent of its fleet comprised of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles – a goal met more than a year ahead of schedule. This makes City CarShare the greenest diversified carshare fleet in the country.

This project was made possible by City CarShare through a grant from the Reformulated Gasoline Settlement Fund, in conjunction with the Bay Area Clean Air Foundation (BACAF) and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD). Created as a result of an antitrust class action, the purpose of the fund is to achieve clean air and fuel efficiency benefits for California consumers. Additional funding was provided by the Bay Area Clean Air Foundation (BACAF) and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD).