If you’ve ever wanted to test an electric vehicle without having to buy it, Gonzaga University and a Seattle car share company are giving you a new option.
Beginning Tuesday, the Seattle-based Zero Emission Vehicle Cooperative, or ZEV Co-op, will begin renting its cars on a per-hour basis. The vehicles are parked in a charging lot across the parking lot from College Hall, the university's administration building, and behind Gonzaga’s Office of Sustainability.
“It probably is not going to be anyone’s daily use thing. No one is going to use to commute to and from work the other day," said Caleb Yoder, the office's transportation coordinator.
But he says it is an option for people who have an occasional need for a car.
“I could see bus riders using this because, if you ride the bus to campus or to the area frequently, then you have an emergency," he said. "Say your kid falls off the swing and breaks their wrist or whatever, you got to go get your kid to the emergency room, now you don’t have to worry about doing that trip on the bus. So you have this other option. You can check out this car.”
You can explore that option here.
“They reached out to us because they thought that Gonzaga was a centrally-located institution in the city where it would be accessible to a lot of people and also because our missions kind of share similar values. They’re very community oriented and they’re always looking for ways to empower mobility in the community and Gonzaga shares a lot of those same values," Yoder said.
The university will hold an opening ceremony today at noon to formally open the car share. It’s funded in part by the Washington Department of Transportation. Avista and the Spokane non-profit Urbanova are also partners.
