Electric cars coming to Watsonville in new shared ride program

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV) – An electric car share program is officially on its way to Watsonville.

The Watsonville City Council has approved a two-year agreement with the nonprofit Míocar to launch a pilot electric car share program.

The nonprofit Míocar is bringing shared electric vehicles to three city owned lots.

“We want to offer what it's like to have an electric vehicle. We want to remove those fears from people that say, oh, well, this is a big change. Or maybe electric vehicle is not for us,” Alberto Rodriguez-Pepe said.

“There is a need and necessity of not only green transportation for everyone, but also another transportation solution,” Alberto Rodriguez-Pepe said.

During the pilot, two electric vehicles will be available and participation will be free for a limited group of pre-selected community members.

“The pricing of the services is $4 an hour, $35 for the whole day. 150 miles are included and then it’s $0.35 per extra mile. The minimum reservation time is one hour and the maximum is 24 hours,” Alberto Rodriguez-Pepe said.

Cars will be parked at Watsonville City Hall, Romo Park, and the Watsonville Municipal Airport, with more locations planned in future phases of the program.

“They don’t have a vehicle, but they do want to do large shopping trips at places you can only access by vehicle. They can take a bus here, get a car for a very reasonable price,” Toto Vu-Duc said.

The Watsonville pilot is being funded in part by a $7.2 million state grant, secured through a partnership between city staff and local nonprofit ecology action.

“Míocar brings the offering of greater use of the chargers, which generates a little bit of revenue for the city through low carbon fuel standard credits. That means for any fuel dispensed through the EV chargers, the city receives funding through a credit program,” Toto Vu-Duc said.

One goal of the project is to let people experience electric vehicles firsthand, and ideally reduce the number of personal vehicles on the road.

“Something like a car share service means maybe you don't have to purchase a vehicle. And that can keep the number of cars down to a minimum off the roads through the car sharing model program,” Toto Vu-Duc said.

“Everyone should have access to these at an affordable price,” Alberto Rodriguez-Pepe said.

By the end of the year, all eight electric vehicles are expected to be fully launched, with the hope of expanding the program after the pilot phase.

The program is expected to roll out over late summer.