Budget EV Rental Cars Offers Unique Solution to Rising Fuel Costs
6 April 2000
Budget EV Rental Cars Offers Unique Solution to Rising Fuel Costs
New Honda Insight Rental Cars Travel 600 to 700 Miles on Single Tank
LISLE, Ill., April 5 As the topic of rising fuel costs
continues to gain popularity around the water cooler, Budget EV Rental Cars, a
joint effort between EV Rental Cars and Budget Rent a Car Corporation, offers
a unique transportation solution -- alternative fuel vehicle rentals.
Budget EV Rental Cars recently added the first gasoline-electric
hybrid -- Honda's Insight -- to its growing rental fleet of alternative fuel
vehicles. Available at Budget's Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and
Beverly Hills locations, the addition of the hybrid represents yet another
step in the ongoing evolution toward alternative fuel vehicle use since Budget
EV Rental Cars began offering the first electric vehicle rentals in the U.S.
in December 1998.
"The greatest advantage of the Honda Insight is that it can travel from
600 to 700 miles on a single tank, and it never requires recharging from an
outside source," said EV Rental Car President Jeff Pink.
Renters looking for other solutions to the rising cost of fuel should
consider Budget EV Rental Car's Honda Civic GX compressed natural gas
vehicles -- their tanks can be filled for roughly half the price of
traditional gasoline. And don't forget electric cars, they're unaffected by
the growing fuel uproar.
With an initial fleet of six Honda Insight two-seater coupes, and another
40-50 to be added throughout the year, Budget EV Rental Cars offers a combined
fleet of more than 60 environmental vehicles (EVs) in California including the
following models: Ford Ranger EV, General Motors EV1, Honda EV PLUS, Nissan
Altra, Toyota RAV4-EV, Honda Civic GX and Honda Insight.
Budget EV Rental Cars was recently selected for a Clean Air Award on
behalf of the Coalition for Clean Air in recognition of its efforts to
introduce zero emission vehicles to the mass market. The Coalition for Clean
Air is an environmental non-profit organization, dedicated to restoring clean,
healthful air to California through a combination of advocacy and education.
On the environmental front in Europe, Budget Rent a Car recently added 20
LPG (liquid petroleum gas) Ford Transit vans to its UK fleet. Budget was the
first major car rental company to rent LPG vehicles throughout the UK,
and since 1996 has been offering electric cars in Paris and Lyons, and
methane-powered cars in Sweden.
Budget Rent a Car Corporation, the world's third largest car and truck
rental system, and EV Rental Cars have joined together to offer EV rentals to
consumers. This effort to support cleaner living is aided by major automobile
manufacturers and their EV products. EV Rentals leases the EVs and rent them
to the public through Budget, using Budget's locations, operations, marketing
support and lot space.
Since 1998, EV Rental Cars has been committed to providing commuters with
an alternative rental car choice and addressing air quality issues. Based at
Budget's LAX location, the company maintains a fleet of more than 60 EVs.
Vehicles are available to rent from Budget's LAX, Sacramento, Beverly Hills
and Ontario, California locations. For more information, customers can visit
the company's Web site at http://www.EVrental.com ; call 877-387-3682; or write to EV
Rental Cars at 9775 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045.
Budget Rent a Car, a wholly owned subsidiary of Budget Group, Inc.
, is one of the world's top three car and truck rental systems.
The Budget system, which operates under the same name worldwide, has more than
3,000 airport and local market locations in over 120 countries and
territories. Budget has more than 1,000 corporate-owned and franchised
locations in the United States. Budget's WorldClass Fleet is comprised of
more than 30 percent specialty vehicles, ranging from sport utility vehicles,
convertibles and luxury cars to minivans, pickups and environmental vehicles.