Earlier this week, London launched Britain’s first ever electric car hire scheme.  The initiative, run by Streetcar, the country’s largest pay-as-you-go car-sharing club, will offer members a specially adapted Toyota Prius at rates starting from £5.95 (just under $10) an hour.

If the trial proves a hit with club members, Streetcar plans to roll out extra electric cars throughout the capital to meet rising demand.

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Car-sharing (car-pooling if you’re in the USA) is one thing, and car rental is another, but they come together in a weird way in the variety of schemes appearing in the UK that allow people to rent a car, cost-effectively, in Brighton, Cambridge, London, Maidstone (don’t worry if you’ve never heard of Maidstone, it’s a strange place), Oxford and Southampton.

It’s called car-sharing, not because you get in a car with somebody else, which can be problematic for all kinds of reasons, not least for solo-travelling women, but because, after you’ve paid your annual fee (around £50 or $100) you get to ‘borrow’ a car from the company for around £4 or $8 per hour. The UK’s leading car-sharing company is Streetcar, founded in 2004, and they have more than 1000 cars in a variety of locations, and sizes.

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