Czech town of Město Touškov near Plzeň has been lending locals electric cars for a year, and the service is profitable

The town of Město Touškov near Plzeň has been lending local residents two electric cars for a year: one family car and one seven-seater. Interest in the service is growing considerably, and it is operating in the black, Mayor Kateřina Duchková (Náš Touškov) told the Czech News Agency (ČTK). The town, with a population of 2400, is considering buying a small electric truck.

"We didn't expect such interest. There were 300 rentals in July, for example. We have ten a day, with an average rental lasting 1.5 to two hours. The cars are basically on the road all the time. The family Hyundai has clocked up 45.000 kilometres in a year," the mayor said.

People drive the most at weekends. A third electric car, also bought a year ago with a state subsidy, is available for people to use unless the town hall reserves it.

Thanks to subsidies, a sponsorship donation and frequent rentals, the entire operation, including insurance, is in the black, according to the mayor. The cars have a five-year warranty, and the town plans to replace them.

"We will definitely expand the fleet. Our Centre for Care and Nursing Services uses about 30 cars to serve clients across a wide area. We will install solar panels on the centre's roof and build charging stations. This will reduce the cost of running the cars," the mayor said.

When the service launched, the rental fee for a fully charged car was 100 crowns an hour; since summer, it has been 20 crowns more. The cars still look like new, the mayor said, and people treat them well; nobody has had an accident in a year. "The service pays for itself completely; it is not running at a loss. When we arranged a night bus service into town, we had to subsidise it by 60.000 crowns a year. In a way, these cars replace public transport," she said.

About 80 percent of the electric cars' users are residents of Město Touškov. "But we have also opened up rentals to neighbouring municipalities," Duchková said. People use the shared cars to go to the doctor or shopping, as well as for trips and journeys to the airport. The larger seven-seater is also used to transport bulkier items. The town is targeting young people and seniors in particular, who no longer have to worry about vehicle inspections, insurance, replacing parts and fluids, and other upkeep. Residents just need to download a free app to their mobile phones, which they use to lock and unlock the car.

According to Patrik Bureš of Czech start-up PeopleCar, which provides the town's car-sharing service, Město Touškov was the first place in Czechia to introduce community-based electric car-sharing, a model that has been successful in Germany. "We will now extend our car-sharing partnership. People like it, and nobody has had a problem with it over the past year," the mayor said.

She said there are no longer state subsidies for passenger cars, but they are available for small trucks, and the town will apply for one. "We would like to let residents borrow a vehicle the size of a Multicar, for example, to transport grass or waste to the collection centre," she added.