Dive Brief:
- Envoy Technologies, which operates shared on-demand electric vehicle (EV) fleets, will expand nationwide thanks to a series of newly announced partnerships, according to a company press release. The company will soon have 100 partner sites and more than 1,800 vehicles.
- Partnerships with Alliance Residential, Equity Residential and Kimpton Sawyer Hotels will make Envoy fleets an on-site amenity at those developers’ apartment complexes, hotels and business buildings. Additionally, Envoy will be the preferred vendor for all of Alliance’s mobility and EV charging infrastructure.
- A new deal with Emet Capital’s College Suites in Brockport, NY will make Envoy EVs available for students.
Dive Insight:
The new partnerships extend Envoy’s reach, making more shared electric vehicles available for tourists and apartment dwellers in cities where many people may not own cars. The operator now maintains fleets in Portland, OR, Seattle, Austin, TX, Chicago, New York, Boston, Miami and Washington, DC, and says that real estate partnerships will give it an even larger national footprint. A recent agreement with utility Eversource Energy will also bring more Envoy EVs and charging infrastructure to Massachusetts in the first quarter of this year.
As shared mobility options proliferate in cities, electric fleets hold plenty of appeal because of their lower carbon footprint. Shared vehicles in a city may not have to travel far — reducing the range anxiety — and can be returned to a central location with chargers installed. As cities and states try to meet sustainability goals and reduce their transportation emissions, incentivizing such shared EV fleets is a way to put more electric cars on the road without having to rely on residents swapping out their vehicles.
The $2 billion Electrify America program established out of the Volkswagen (VW) settlement over its emissions cheating scandal has offered some governments an avenue to purchase more EV infrastructure and shared fleets. Sacramento, for example, announced $44 million in EV investments through the VW fund, including a 142-vehicle Envoy fleet.
