Fukuoka City has begun offering a free electric car sharing service to residents in order to promote the spread of the eco-friendly cars. Until Mar. 22 the City will lend out three cars from three locations, and users can borrow them free of charge for up to three hours. The car sharing service was launched to survey citizens’ needs as part of the City’s efforts to add more charging stations. The project will cost about ¥6.8 million.
The City’s contract partner is Mazda Car Rental, who is lending one electric car each from its Hakataguchi, Tenjin and Yakuin Ekimae branches. There are currently five charging stations in the city, including one each at City Hall and Hawks Town Mall, and users can try their hand at charging the vehicles using a special handheld tablet. The service is available to individual residents of Fukuoka and corporations with addresses in the city. Users must have at least one year of driving experience since obtaining a driver’s license and must not have had any accidents or major infractions in the past three years. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun, Feb. 8
