Eco-Car Rentals: Experiences from Los Angeles

Joy, Jacob and I travelled to California in December to visit my family. Even after 10 years in NYC, I still miss living in California. I am so much more relaxed and happy in California. Sure, NYC is more exciting and it is far easier to get around without a car in NYC, which I greatly appreciate. But Los Angeles is still my favorite city to live in, with the possible exception of Kyoto which was WONDERFUL to live in as well.

Got a lot to blog about that trip, including some restaurant reviews. But first I want to blog about car rentals. Joy and I don't own a car, but we rent whenever we need a car. Whenever we can, we rent a green alternative kind of car. Which means slowly we are gaining personal experience with several kinds of car rentals in Los Angeles...and many options are available elsewhere.

We are willing to spend somewhat extra for a green car, particularly since you save money on gas. But sometimes the difference in cost is too much, so we just rent a regular car with good gas milage. But I always feel better when we can rent an actual green car.

This last trip we rented a biodiesel through a company based in Hawaii that specializes in biodiesal Volkswagen rentals. The company is called bio-beetle. We rented a Jetta, not the eponymous bio-Beetle. Jacob loved calling our car "The Bio-Jetta," and would greet it every time we got in, "Hi Bio-Jetta!"

More on "Bio-Jetta" later.

The first green car we rented in Los Angeles was an actual electric car. It was an electric RAV4, a model that is no longer made. We loved having an electric car. It ran almost silently. It was disconcerting at first because you switch it on and you don't hear anything. As you drive along the street all you hear is the sound of the tires on the road. It was a little eerie, but also really neat. People in all sorts of cars, including sports cars, would pull up to us and ask about the car. We loved it and people around us loved it.

Imagine how much nicer cities would be if you cut down the noise of traffic by about 90%. THAT would be what would happen if we had mostly electric cars. The electric RAV4 performed just fine, with good pick up and able to go perfectly fast on the freeway. The main disadvantage is it had a 100 mile range before it needed recharging and it would take a couple of hours to recharge. For a road trip that wouldn't work. But for bopping around Los Angeles it was ideal. We drove all over, then plugged it in overnight at the recharging station (free!) in a Ralph's supermarket parking garage (5601 Wilshire Blvd.) near where we were staying. It was perfect for our purposes and saved us lots of money on gas. (You can find a list of recharging stations, some free, some not, here). If you can leave it in one of these stations overnight near where you are staying, it works perfectly. Otherwise, it's not as convenient.

When we rented, we rented through EV Rentals. They don't seem to offer electric cars anymore through their website, but we notice their inventory and prices change fairly often, so it is always worth calling and asking. EV Rentals have branches near the airports in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Ana, San Jose, Oakland, and Phoenix (AZ). You can call all of these at this number: 877-EV-RENTAL

We have tried two different hybrid cars: the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid. You can rent these through EV Rentals as well. In fact, right now it seems like hybrid cars are all you can rent through EV Rentals right now, though like I say, their inventory changes from time to time. I also notice you can buy used (sorry..."PRE-OWNED") hybrids through EV Rentals for those who want to own one at a reasonable price. Call 877-EV-RENTAL to rent or own.

The Prius we tried was now several years ago, but even then we were able to get 50 mpg average milage. We did LOTS of driving no that trip, so the excellent milage was much appreciated. We LOVED the Prius. Absolutely loved it. By contrast we were disappointed in the Honda Civic Hybrid. It was okay, but nothing special and only gave us some 35 mpg. This is worse than it's supposed to get, yet it was a shiny, brand new car, barely ever driven, when we rented it. New car smell and all. So in our opinion, anyone considering renting or buying a hybrid would have little reason NOT to go for a Prius.

And it seems in Los Angeles we are not alone in that opinion. We saw an amazing number of Priuses on the road on this last trip. Far more than I see in NYC, even in my neighborhood of Park Slope where there are quite a few. I saw one Toyota Highlander hybrid and one Honda Civic hybrid. But by far the Prius was the most common hybrid on the road in Los Angeles. But beyond even that, I noticed that Toyotas were the most common kind of vehicle on the road. In some cases I saw entire blocks of parked cars that were one Toyota after another, usually at least one of them a Prius. Add in Hondas and Lexuses and Japanese made cars dominated the road in Los Angeles. I think this really says something about the American car industry. They failed to learn their lessons in the 1980's when they were nearly driven under by competition. History may be repeating itself. Toyota seems to give Americans what they want, from the Prius on.

Most recently we tried bio-diesel. It was great, actually. Good milage, good performance and apparently we were renting a biodiesel from bio-beetle at the same time as Woody Harrelson, so we had good company. First off, biodiesel is not the same as a car that runs on vegetable oil. The latter actually do smell like french fries, apparently, while biodiesel is simply diesel fuel that is made from used vegetable oil.

Bio-beetle.com is based in Maui, and rents on Maui as well. It seems they may be discontinuing their Los Angeles rentals due to lack of demand...which is a shame. Joy and me and Woody Harrelson might be the last people to have rented from them. But it is possible that if there is an increase in demand they might restart it...if you are interested call them and ask. Who knows. They may go for it.

The cars get 30-45 miles a gallon on biodiesel, which is the range we were getting. Biodiesel costs a little more than gasoline, but if you combine the good milage with the slightly higher cost you still do fine. In reality, ANY diesel car can run on biodiesel (some older cars may need minor modifications, so check first!). There aren't too many stations that offer biodiesel, though.

Here is a list of fueling stations that offer biodiesel. We used this one:

Conservfuel in Brentwood
11699 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
310-571-0039

I liked them because they used to be a traditional gas station in Brentwood when I grew up there, so it's nice to see one of our old landmarks turned green. Conservfuel is a company that is trying to create a cleaner fueling options, including biodiesel and ethanol, as well as regular gasoline. Their FAQ has some great info on these fuels as well as on their company.

For people who want to use biodiesel who live in Los Angeles, there is a biodiesel cooperative that can help you out. You can email them for info: membership_at_sustainableoptions.com

So when you travel and rent cars, look for green alternatives. You can often even save money once fuel costs are factored in, though you have to compare carefully to get the best deal. And options change from time to time. EV Rental is a good place to start in California and Arizona. You can also go to greencar.com for some options for hybrid rentals around the country.

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