Cityhop gets 25 EVs

Green MP Chloe Swarbrick has launched 25 electric car share vehicles in Auckland.

Driving change with Cityhop car share general manager Ben Carter, Swarbrick learned how back to base car share radically reduces car ownership and encourages modal shifts to resolve congestion issues and reduce emissions.

In six months Cityhop’s first 10 EVs were driven by 500 drivers who made 10,000 trips in that time.

At the launch, Carter issued a challenge to all businesses with a fleet, encouraging those talking about sustainability with CBD or city fringe offices and large fleets to walk the talk and choose some new mobility solutions.

He’s challenged every business by offering the chance to replace some fleet with car share cars or sign their staff up to Cityhop to encourage more mobility choice. It is a practical way to get better use, travel fewer vehicle kilometres and encourage more mobility alternatives, he says.

Most fleets are parked for much of the time and are a wasted asset. Many businesses still buy fleet for peak use whereas smart businesses now use Cityhop instead and support their staff by giving them Cityhop memberships.

Carter, who has a master’s degree in science and an ethics degree, says he’s over all the hype about cutting congestion and countering climate change by reducing carbon emissions. The place to start is with one less car, he says.

“So many businesses use yesterday’s thinking, changing like for like. Climate action involves more than changing a petrol car to an EV. They need to change behaviour. They are more likely to achieve their sustainable targets by offering other mobility choices, like car share.”

Auckland Council has declared a Climate Change Emergency and has put together the Auckland Climate Action Framework.

“The priority should be to remove vehicles – not encourage more,” Carter says. “No major city in the world is asking for more cars. We need to change behaviours to reduce congestion, road trauma and emissions. Start with the fleet!”

Carter says round trip car share is the only proven tool to both reduce car ownership and increase public transport and walking and cycling.

Every Cityhop takes nine to 15 cars off the road, he says.

“After joining Cityhop the average member drives 2000km less. This means our members cut CO2 by 1,000,000kg every year.”

Car sharing, where you rent vehicles by the hour, is the obvious way to go for the generation of Aucklanders concerned about emissions and interested in saving money on car parks and car ownership, Carter says.

“There’s a lot of hype about subsidies for EV cars. But EVs are out of reach for most people. When you rent a car by the hour, anybody can afford to drive, even an EV.”

When people join car share programmes, they drive less as they realise they don’t actually need to own a car and they depend more on public transport, Carter adds.