Polestar 2 chosen by Flexicar for Adelaide electric car sharing trial: 'Other brands can be quirky'
11/16/2024 04:00 PM
Car sharing company Flexicar has added two Polestar 2 electric vehicles to its fleet in an Adelaide trial program.
EXCLUSIVE
Australian car-sharing company Flexicar has added electric vehicles to its fleet for the first time.
The Hertz-owned business will offer two Polestar 2 electric sedans in a trial program launched in Adelaide, South Australia this week.
Available from the suburb of Glenside, near Adelaide's CBD, the Polestar 2 models – a long-range single-motor and a long-range dual-motor – can be hired through Flexicar's mobile app, like its petrol and diesel vehicles.
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The rear-wheel-drive Polestar 2 long-range single-motor has a WLTP-rated driving range of up to 659 kilometres, while the all-wheel-drive long-range dual-motor is rated to travel up to 596 kilometres – and cuts the claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time from 6.2 seconds to 4.5 seconds.
Hertz Australia and New Zealand vice president Eoin MacNeill – who also heads Flexicar – told Drive the company chose the Polestar 2 due to its user-friendly design, compared to other EVs such as Teslas without conventional stalks and buttons.
Flexicar's parent also has experience with the Polestar 2 with a fleet of Hertz rental cars in its 'Green Collection' – along with the Tesla Model Y, Mercedes-Benz EQA, and Toyota hybrid vehicles.
Globally, Hertz has announced a loss of $AU2 billion which has been largely blamed on its ex-rental electric vehicle sell-off in regions like the United States, but electric cars remain available to rent through Hertz – and now Flexicar – in Australia.
"Polestar 2 is a great car in my opinion. It’s also very user-friendly in terms of the technology. It's actually more of a traditional car-based tech. Easy to use as a first off user," said MacNeill.
“Some of the other brands can be a little bit quirky, and it’s not great for car rental or for car sharing.”
There is no extra cost to hire a Polestar 2 through its service compared to a similarly-sized internal-combustion vehicle, said MacNeill, which has been enabled through factors such as the reduced cost of electric cars – particularly for businesses.
Recharging costs are included in the hourly booking rate – like fuel is for internal-combustion Flexicar vehicles – with two direct-current fast-charging stations installed where the vehicles are stationed at the Banksia Apartments in Glenside, a suburb of Adelaide.
The maximum state-of-charge for the Polestar 2 vehicles is restricted to 90 per cent.
"We will always have to use a charging station for the vehicle so that when the consumer gets there, we set them at 90 per cent to protect the battery life," said MacNeill.
"The use case has to be at 90 per cent for the consumer to have that level of ease driving off in it. There may be occasions where someone’s returned it, plugged it back in, and there hasn’t been a huge amount of time in between.
"We actually manage that in terms of the battery level. We won’t take more bookings on those vehicles. Electric vehicles for us in car sharing is pretty new.
"This is our first trial. We have them in other parts where where we have off-street charging. But we see on-street charging is a thing that will make the consumers really adopt to it.
"I think it will be a great experiment to see whether or not people will use those vehicles as transport means to go shopping, go and visit people, go up to the wineries, etc., for the day and back and then put it back on charge, and it’s ready then for the next user."
The executive said Adelaide was chosen due to the apartment developer’s interest in the project, along with the city’s smaller size compared to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
MacNeill added Flexicar aims to launch battery-electric share vehicles in other Australian cities through private enterprise agreements to allow for the installation of dedicated charging stations, rather than requiring customers to use third-party public charging stations.
"Stress around charge anxiety is one of the biggest blockers for those who are considering hiring electric vehicle.
"With our customers using Flexicar vehicles for short range trips, the trial removes this anxiety and is a great opportunity for people to test one out before purchasing."
Compared to traditional rental car companies – such as its Hertz parent – the Flexicar model allows customers to sign up for a yearly membership, and then book a car on the mobile app from a selected location for a minimum of one hour and a maximum of five days.
The Flexicar mobile app acts as the vehicle's key throughout the hire, with its vehicles available to current Australian licence holders – including provisional drivers older than 18 years old.
However, the Polestar 2 long-range dual-motor available in the South Australia trial is banned for provisional licence holders in some states due to its power-to-weight ratio above 130kW/t.
MacNeill acknowledged the challenges facing the car-sharing industry in Australia, which saw the shut down of the peer-to-peer Uber Car Share – formerly Car Next Door – service in September 2024.
“I think the challenges are, it is some of the economics, the regulatory stuff, and just the actual cost of fleet ownership at the moment has gone up dramatically over the last few years.
MORE: Uber Carshare, formerly Car Next Door, shuts down
“[However], the opportunities are that, we see it as a really positive and exciting space to be in. We think the car ownership shift positions Flexicar really well to take advantage of the fact that people may not want to own a vehicle or all of the expense and depreciation.
“The residual value worries insurance, so they can actually use one of our vehicles as a need rises, rather than having something that’s probably parked for a good proportion of its life in their in their driveway.”
Electric vehicles can be hired from other car-sharing services in Australia, including the Toyota-operated Kinto business which offers the bZ4X SUV from dealerships in Victoria and New South Wales, and peer-to-peer services like Turo and Carbar with a range of privately-owned electric cars.
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