A fleet of over 300 all-electric VW e-Golfs will be available for car-sharing in London

London currently has several important initiatives to reduce air pollution in the city and many of them are encouraging the deployment of more electric vehicles.

Now Zipcar is getting on board and it announced today that it will add over 300 all-electric VW e-Golfs to its car-sharing fleet in London.

The company says that it has over 200,000 Zipcar members now in London and they aim to make more electric vehicles available for them.

According to the details of the new e-Golf scheme announced today, the first vehicles will be available this summer:

• The first 100 electric cars will be available from this summer, increasing to 325 by the end of 2018
• All these cars will be the new 100% electric Volkswagen e-Golf
• The electric cars will be available as part of the popular, by-the-minute Zipcar Flex service, which allows members to ‘drive and drop’ one-way around the capital
• Zipcar members will be able to access the electric vehicles via the current Zipcar app

Jonathan Hampson, General Manager for Zipcar UK, said about the announcement:

With over 200,000 Zipcar members now in London, we are already seeing Londoners embracing car sharing rather than car owning in growing numbers. If we are to achieve healthier, cleaner streets, as set out in the Mayor of London’s latest Transport Strategy, this change away from car ownership and towards car access is essential.

In encouraging this change we have always wanted to use the cleanest possible vehicles, which is why we’re incredibly proud and excited to team up with Volkswagen for this zero emissions initiative. It marks another step towards our vision for a greener London where car sharers outnumber car owners, making our amazing city an even better place to live for all.

Alison Jones, Managing Director of Volkswagen UK, added:

This is an exciting step for Volkswagen. Thousands of Zipcar members will experience electric driving, perhaps for the first time, and we know they will love the functionality and ease of use that the all-electric e-Golf provides. Inner-city residents are looking for alternatives to car ownership and this development of the relationship between Volkswagen and Zipcar offers the best of both worlds: on-demand driving and zero emission motoring across the UK’s capital.

The VW e-Golf received a significant range update with an EPA rating of 125 miles thanks to a new 35.8 kWh battery pack last year.

The vehicle has been mostly well-received, but VW has been limiting the availability in many markets.

Over 300 vehicles in London is actually a significant order for VW, which recently doubled its e-Golf electric car production from 35 to 70 units per day.

London’s clean air program is resulting in many of those new EV efforts in the city.

They have since introduced several programs to electrify transport in the city, like having their first long-range all-electric double-decker buses now in service and introducing low-emission zones where polluting vehicles get taxed.

London Black Cabs also started to add electric vehicles to their fleet in order to reduce emissions.

Uber has introduced programs to help its 40,000 drivers in London to switch to electric cars and in order to support all those new EVs on the road, the city is also accelerating the deployment of charging stations.

Earlier this month, we also reported a large fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-Pace to offer shuttle services from Heathrow airport.