Skip to main content

Zipcar launches fleet of plug-in hybrid electric cars in London

Zipcar has partnered with Westminster City Council and Volkswagen UK to bring premium zero-emission driving to Londoners at an affordable price. Fifty Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in hybrid electric cars are now available to Zipcar members, with 40 cars located in the City of Westminster and 10 additional cars elsewhere in London, such as Tower Bridge and Old Oak. To make this possible, Westminster City Council has installed new charging infrastructure in 40 of their car club parking bays. Westminster Cit
June 7, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
3874 Zipcar has partnered with Westminster City Council and Volkswagen UK to bring premium zero-emission driving to Londoners at an affordable price.

Fifty Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in hybrid electric cars are now available to Zipcar members, with 40 cars located in the City of Westminster and 10 additional cars elsewhere in London, such as Tower Bridge and Old Oak. To make this possible, Westminster City Council has installed new charging infrastructure in 40 of their car club parking bays.

Westminster City Council residents recently named air pollution as their biggest concern, ahead of other local issues.  Westminster is also bidding for funds to create a Low Emission Neighbourhood in Marylebone and recently introduced an ‘air force’ of parking marshals to educate people about the impact of engine idling.

By making the innovative Volkswagen Golf GTE available to Zipcar members at the same hourly rate as a petrol Volkswagen Golf, members have another reason to choose zero-emission vehicles for their urban trips.  It will also mean thousands of Zipcar members will experience electric driving for the first time.

Related Content

  • January 20, 2016
    Europe’s city drivers ‘spending up to US$27 an hour on owning a car’
    Recent research carried out by Opinion Matters for Zipcar among 2,500 car owner/drivers in London, Barcelona, Paris and Madrid, who drive regularly within these cities indicates that drivers are spending up to US$27 an hour owning a car. The research, which was based specifically on city drivers that own a car worth up to US$21,000 at time of purchase tallied up typical car costs such as road tax, maintenance, insurance, petrol and parking, as well as taking into account depreciation over the year. It
  • August 6, 2013
    Study reveals benefits of electric Beijing taxi fleet
    The impact of introducing plug-in electric vehicles to the streets of Beijing, one of the world’s most polluted cities, has been examined by researchers from the University of Michigan in the ACS journal Environmental Science and Technology. They use big data mining techniques to understand the impact of fleet electrification. As part of the study, the researchers highlight that while plug-in electric vehicles have developed rapidly in recent years there are still uncertainties with regard to market accepta
  • August 31, 2023
    ULEZ: is it the best way to tackle air quality?
    Issues of equity and economics need to considered in London's ultra-clean air zone expansion
  • August 7, 2017
    Government ban on petrol and diesel cars ‘doesn’t go far enough’, says UK adviser
    Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Professor Frank Kelly, chair of the UK Government’s Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, says fewer not cleaner vehicles are needed to tackle the UK’s air pollution crisis, plus more cycling and walking and better transit systems. The Government recently released its Air Quality Plan, in which it announced that it will ban all petrol and diesel vehicles (including hybrids) from 2040, with only electric vehicles available after that.