Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

3 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

3 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

4 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

4 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

4 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

4 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

4 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

4 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

4 days ago
Electric Car Program Targets Downtown, SW Fresno Customers
By admin
Published 2 years ago on
October 11, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

If you want to be one of the first people in southwest or downtown Fresno to use a new electric car-sharing program, you can soon register with EV-Werx Carshare.

Possibly as soon as next week, the car-sharing program will roll out vehicles to its first customers, says Dr. Cassandra Little. She’s overseeing the program that’s being administered through the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce’s Biz-Werx Innovation and Mobility Hub in downtown Fresno.

Little, the chamber’s president, said hardware is being loaded this week into the Chevy Bolts that are the fleet’s initial vehicles. Meanwhile, officials are still working out how to secure charging stations that have already been vandalized by metal thieves.

“We’re looking at rolling them (vehicles) out to the Fresno Housing Authority, but we’re going to go with their cue, if they’re ready to go. So I’m hoping next week we can have those out there,” Little told GV Wire on Monday.

The fleet of 14 Chevy Bolts will be positioned at five public housing sites in southwest Fresno — Sequoia Courts Terrace, Sierra Terrace, Yosemite Village, Fairview Heights Terrace, and Legacy Commons — and also The Hub at the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce on Fulton Street and the site of the future high-speed rail station.

The cars are being purchased through a $7.7 million grant from the California Strategic Growth Council’s Transformative Climate Communities’ Transform Fresno project. The Clean Shared Mobility Network was one of the earliest projects funded through the program, Little said.

For more information on the vehicle and bicycle ride-share programs, go to https://www.gobizwerx.com.

Improving Clean Transportation Options

The goal is to provide clean transportation options to residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods who have struggled to go grocery shopping or get to a medical appointment. Little said putting the vehicles out into neighborhoods will help residents become more familiar with the program, as will “embedding” staffers such as Keshia Thomas, who is helping to coordinate communications and who lives in southwest Fresno. Thomas is a Fresno Unified School Board member.

Little said she worked with a Stockton-based vehicle-sharing organization, MíoCar, which already has a green-vehicle car-share program up and running, in developing the Fresno car-sharing program.

Residents will need to submit an application on the program’s website or through a smartphone app, neither of which were yet operational on Wednesday. The approval process can take two to three days, after which members will need to complete a 15- to 20-minute orientation by phone or video.

Members won’t need auto insurance — that will be included in the rental, Little said. But they will need a valid driver’s license and credit, debit, or prepaid card to make a reservation. They won’t need a key to open the car door — their smartphone, with the EV-Werx app, will serve as the key.

The cost will be $4 per hour for up to eight hours, or $35 per day, up to 14 hours. The program’s flyer notes that prices are subject to change.

Little acknowledged that residents who don’t have cars frequently also don’t have driver’s licenses and might not be able to take advantage of the program. But those residents might be able to pair up with neighbors who do have a driver’s license, she said.

“If people need a ride, we will get them a ride,” she said.

Procuring Fleet Takes Time

The program’s roll-out has taken a bit longer than Little initially anticipated. In March 2022 when the program was announced, she had optimistically forecast that the first cars would be ready for use in a couple of months. But she soon learned that acquiring a fleet of cars and establishing a car-sharing program needs to be done incrementally so as not to waste money.

Little gives a lot of credit to Hedrick’s Chevrolet in Clovis for helping her learn the ropes of fleet procurement and putting in the EV car orders. She’s ordering another five Bolts from Hedrick’s.

But the fleet won’t all be Chevrolets. Little says she’s now researching Nissan Leafs and also is ordering four Teslas, one of which will be used by EV-Werx as a promotional vehicle. Why Teslas, which are more expensive than Bolts?

“I’m just following through what was written in the grant,” she said.

Five years ago when the grant was awarded, Teslas cost over $100,000, but since then the cost has come down and now the Model Ys are only slightly more expensive than Chevy Bolts, which have gotten more expensive in recent years, Little said.

Dr. Cassandra Little with electric bikes at Biz-Werx in downtown Fresno. (GV Wire/Nancy Price)

Electric Bikes Also Coming

The grant for the Clean Mobility Network also includes funds for electric bicycles, and Little says that fleet should be up and running soon.

They were scheduled to arrive this week, and Little said that once the stickers have been applied, the battery-powered bikes will be ready to rent out, 25 at a time.

EV-Werx is teaming up with the Downtown Fresno Partnership to promote the Biz-Bikes Bikeshare program, she said.

Members will pay $25 a month for 60 minutes use daily, with 25 cents per minute for overages and no unlock fee. In the Transformative Climate Communities’ service area of downtown and southwest Fresno, the charge is $4 per month for 60 minutes daily, with 5 cents per minute for overages and no unlock fee.

Casual riders will pay $1 to unlock the bike and 25 cents per minute.

E-Vans Starting Next Year

The third part of the ridesharing program is Van Werx, but that’s still a work in progress, Little said.

Eventually, there will be two electric vans available that residents can call on for rides around town, including to doctor’s appointments, she said.

“We will have two ADA shuttles for van-hailing and van-pooling,” she said. “I’m hoping in the new year to at least procure one of those.”

 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

DON'T MISS

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

UP NEXT

Fresno Police to Conduct DUI Checkpoint on Fourth of July, Boost Holiday Patrols

UP NEXT

RIP John Harris: Fresno County Rancher, Racehorse Breeder Was a Visionary Leader Who Leaves a ‘Profound Legacy’

UP NEXT

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

UP NEXT

Kaweah Health Names Its New Chief Nurse. She’s From Texas

UP NEXT

Clovis Police Say At-Risk Missing Woman Found Dead in Mariposa County

UP NEXT

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Recover Some of the $40,000 in Fireworks Stolen From Bullard High Team

UP NEXT

Riverdale High School Coach Arrested for Allegedly Arranging to Meet Minor

Trump Calls Musk’s Formation of New Party “Ridiculous” and Confusing

15 hours ago

Fresno DUI Driver Slams Into CHP Motorcycle, Tow Truck on Highway 99

21 hours ago

Russia Downs 120 Ukrainian Drones Overnight, Defense Ministry Says

21 hours ago

Israel Sends Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Talks Ahead of Netanyahu Trip to US

22 hours ago

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Grows to Nearly 80,000 Acres, 30% Contained

22 hours ago

Musk Announces Forming of ‘America Party’ in Further Break From Trump

22 hours ago

Death Toll From Texas Floods Reaches 59, Including 21 Children

22 hours ago

California’s Politics Drifts Right While New York’s Leans Left

22 hours ago

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

2 days ago

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

2 days ago

TikTok Building New Version of App Ahead of Expected US Sale, the Information Reports

TikTok is building a new version of its app for users in the United States ahead of a planned sale of the app to a group of investors, The I...

15 hours ago

A logo is displayed over a door at the U.S. headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, U.S. January 17, 2025. (Reuters File)
15 hours ago

TikTok Building New Version of App Ahead of Expected US Sale, the Information Reports

Boxes of aid are stacked as Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it has commenced operations to begin distribution of aid, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 26, 2025. (Reuters File)
15 hours ago

Hamas Government Office Rejects US Accusation of Involvement in Gaza Aid Site Attack

A volunteer searches for flood victims after deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, U.S., July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Sergio Flores
15 hours ago

Death Toll From Texas Floods Reaches 78, Trump Plans Visit

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk listens as US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC, U.S. on November 13, 2024. (Reuters File)
15 hours ago

Trump Calls Musk’s Formation of New Party “Ridiculous” and Confusing

A 22-year-old suspected DUI driver crashed into a parked CHP motorcycle and tow truck on Highway 99 near Fresno, narrowly missing an officer and bystanders, CHP said Saturday, July 5, 2025. (CHP)
21 hours ago

Fresno DUI Driver Slams Into CHP Motorcycle, Tow Truck on Highway 99

A service member of a drone unit of the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo of the Ukrainian Armed Forces controls a heavy combat drone while it flies over positions of Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk Region, Ukraine June 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
21 hours ago

Russia Downs 120 Ukrainian Drones Overnight, Defense Ministry Says

An Israeli tank maneuvers in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 6, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
22 hours ago

Israel Sends Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Talks Ahead of Netanyahu Trip to US

The Madre Fire near New Cuyama has burned nearly 80,000 acres as of Sunday, July 6, 2025, morning, prompting widespread evacuation orders and warnings across three counties. (CalFire)
22 hours ago

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Grows to Nearly 80,000 Acres, 30% Contained

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend