How do you make driving around Santa Monica easier?
You leave your car at home.
And then you jump in a WaiveCar, a new eco-friendly car-sharing service that uses ZipCar’s model but stocks only electric vehicles (Chevy Sparks, to be precise).
Best part: it’s 100 percent free to drive for the first two hours. After that, WaiveCar charges you $5.99 an hour to use one of their electric whips, all of which feature billboard-style ads to generate revenue (hence those two free hours).
Are they a bit of an eyesore? Yes. Is that a fair tradeoff for a free ride? Also yes.
Another perk: if you park at a public lot with a charging station when you’re done, you’ll accrue “points” that lead to free drive-time on future trips.
WaiveCar is currently only in Santa Monica, but you can go anywhere provided it ends up in SaMo. In the next few months, they’ll start to use trucks with on-the-go “fast chargers” that can recharge dead units in just 15 minutes.
If you’re looking for an excuse to try it out, we recommend Uber-ing to brunch at The Rose Café, then Waive-ing it to Topanga State Beach and back.
You know, to catch some waives.
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