Electric car rental firm expands to Oahu

GreenCar Hawaii, which launched the state’s first car-share company on Kauai last year, has expanded its service to Oahu with four Nissan Leaf electric vehicles which will be marketed to both visitors and locals.

The company unveiled the cars and two charging stations Friday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Alana Waikiki Hotel, which is hosting GreenCar’s foray into the Oahu market.

Guests of the hotel, as well as other visitors and local residents, will be able to rent the vehicles for an all-inclusive rate of $15 an hour or $95 a day. Motorists with their own electric vehicles can use the GreenCar charging stations for a $5 flat fee.

The company’s success on Kauai with a fleet of six hybrid sport utility vehicles based at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa laid the groundwork for the company’s expansion, which eventually will include other locations statewide, said Warren Doi, who founded the company with his business partner Justin MacNaughton.

In the near term, GreenCar is on track to open an outlet later this month at the Koa Kea Hotel & Resort on Kauai. The company hopes to have six locations at partner hotels on Kauai and Oahu by mid-2012.

"GreenCar is getting rave reviews both from the management side and from guests, and we’re really interested in helping to develop better ways to access and use mobility while limiting the number of fossil fuel-burning cars on Hawaii’s roads," MacNaughton said.

Reservations can be made over the phone, online or at a kiosk in the hotel lobbies. Doi said the company is marketing the service to both visitors and local residents who might either not own a car or are considering buying an electric vehicle and want to try one first.

GreenCar’s operation at the DoubleTree was financed in part with a $200,000 federal grant awarded to GreenCar earlier this year under the EV Ready Grant Program administered by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Tom Herman, general manager of the DoubleTree, said the hotel already had received several bookings for the Nissan Leafs before the service was launched.

"Our guests, patrons and the community now have access to on-demand mobility by the hour directly from the hotel and at the same time help us support our global brand’s sustainability initiatives," he said.