Tuesday, 10th of June 2008 at 11:13:28 PM
Perhaps you were driving around the downtown Houston area recently and came across a white and green electric vehicle transporting some environmentally conscious passengers to their next business meeting. If you see it again, waive hello to the guys from REV Houston, Houston’s newest FREE and GREEN transportation service.
REV (or Ride Electric Vehicles) currently operates one vehicle in the downtown-midtown area of Houston with plans to add a second vehicle in the next few weeks (the second vehicle will be a 6 seater versus the 4 seater they currently have). The vehicles are GEM Vehicles from Chrysler and are 100% electric powered:
“GEM battery-electric vehicles are classified as low-speed vehicles, or neighborhood electric vehicles, and are street legal in nearly all 50 states on public roads posted at 35 mph or less. With a top speed of 25 mph, GEM cars have a range of up to 30 miles on a charge and are great for traveling around neighborhoods, city centers or job sites. GEM vehicles are battery-electric, operate on a 72-volt battery system and plug into a standard 110-volt outlet. What makes GEM vehicles so unique is that they can be recharged anytime, anywhere a 110-volt outlet is available and recharge in approximately six to eight hours.”
To request a ride simply call 1.877.Go.REV.Go or visit one of the company’s “REV Stops” for a code you can text to Qtags (another great Houston startup we profiled last year). The stops are as follows:
- The Coffee Groundz (REV1)
- The Rice Lofts (REV2)
- El Patio (REV3)
The only cost for the ride is a gratuity. The company plans to subsidize their costs initially by selling advertising space on the vehicles.
“It was Opening Day 2007 for the Houston Astros,” states Erik Ibarra, co-founder of REV Houston. “I went for a ride on a pedi-cab and thought, ‘This guy would have it so much easier if he had a golf cart.’ I started looking into street legal electric vehicles for about a year and the concept blossomed from there.”
Ibarra also mentioned that the company plans to test additional markets within Houston for expansion, such as Rice Village, Washington Avenue and Westheimer in the future.
P.S. Erik, you need to talk with Matt and Ned at the Caroline Collective and add that as a stop as well.
Josh – thanks for the plug for REV – qtags is glad to be part of this green energy effort and look forward to Houston showing others how to make a difference.
This is a nifty idea. I hope it does really well and expands. Aside from the actual service it also helps to raise awareness of electric vehicles.
Josh, The language you used was very simple and easy to understand. I have read throughout article on “Going Green in Houston with REV Houston”. You putting the way of given plug for REV-q tags were very interesting. I think that REV was available in low cost and it helps to avoid the pollution.
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Gary Bristow
http://www.goinggreenbuzz.com
Taxi’s have always over charged the public.
Stay the course
Thanks
Duncan