EThos Electric Car Share

It is well known that driving an electric car is much greener and better for the environment than driving a regular car. Tim Prior, owner of the eThos car sharing company, wants to take this a step further by incorporating car sharing (think of this as renting cars). Prior holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin, enjoys spending time looking at maps and reading zoning codes, and most people would call him a “car guy”. Prior said, “The quickest, simplest solution to me is the electric vehicle. There are more outlets in the world than gas stations.”

Prior decided to start his company in Golden for a few reasons. First of all, Golden is an environmentally friendly city and he hopes to create awareness of being environmentally friendly to the people living in Denver. In fact, not many people know this, but there are actually many electric car chargers around the Denver area and most are free for public use. In addition, Prior announced that eThos will invest in solar and wind power to create electricity to power the electric cars. This will reduce the US carbon footprint.

“We’re all car lovers in this country. It’s hard not to be, it’s part of our culture,” Prior said. “It’s almost a part of our American identity.”
So far, he has purchased 13 vehicles made from an electric car manufacturing company based in Los Angeles called Coda Holdings, Inc. which filed for bankruptcy in 2013. He is offering two types of cars for renting currently, the 2013 Coda Sedan and the Tesla Model S. The Sedan has a 125 mile range and a 31 kWh battery pack, while the Tesla Model S has a 200 mile range and a 60 kWh battery. The Tesla is only available for half day rentals.
Prior encourages drivers to choose eThos for a plenty of reasons. One of those reasons is that eThos offers fixed hourly rate, instead of mileage-based charging, for rental, starting at $7/hour and goes to $4.5/hour after 1 hour. Basically, “the more you drive, the less you pay,” said Prior.

With the nation’s total car purchase on a decline per year basis, is it time for energy efficient cars to step up, especially those that run on electricity? Prior’s goals for eThos is to foster efficiency in commuting, generate local energy, and to be able to educate people about how driving electric cars can be better for the environment.

ethos Electric Car Share Company is located on the corner of 19th and Jackson Street.