Via California - Summer 2019 - 8

SMART LIFE

G OING
ELEC TRIC

GIG comes to Sacramento
Experts predict that, in the future,
most cars will be shared, electric,
and capable of driving themselves.
That future has arrived early in
Sacramento, where AAA recently
launched the biggest all-electric
car-sharing service in the country.
The new Sacramento service
works the same way as the original
GIG service that was rolled out in
Berkeley and Oakland, Calif., in
2017: You download an app to your
smartphone, use it to locate and
unlock the car you want to use,
and then get in and go. You can
drive your GIG car wherever you

14caMJ19_SMARTIDEA.indd 14

want, then return it to any legal
parking spot in the service's
HomeZone (in this case, a
13-square-mile area in central
Sacramento). Other car-sharing
services require you to return vehicles to designated parking areas.
The biggest difference between
this new GIG service and the original in the Bay Area is that all the
cars in the Sacramento fleet run
fully on electricity. The cars are
periodically recharged as needed,
but if you need more juice, you
can stop by any of the charging stations inside the HomeZone.

"Sacramento is one of the greenest cities in the United States," says
Jason Haight, president of GIG
Car Share. "We're thrilled to launch
a new, easy mobility solution there
that's both affordable and zeroemission and that we think will
really benefit the community."
Pricing is based on usage and
includes insurance and parking in
the HomeZone; AAA Members
get a 10 percent discount. There's
no sign-up fee.
It's just one more way AAA is
evolving to help Members in the
rapidly changing world of mobility.

COURTESY ELECTRIFY AMERICA

SMART IDEA

In 2018, an estimated
1 million electric
vehicles were on the
road in the U.S.

3/26/19 10:00 AM
Via California - Summer 2019

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