The cars will be available to rent by the hour, with pricing starting at $10, and are located in pods throughout the city. Charging points are being installed by 350Green, while the Chicago Transit Authority, Tishman Speyer, LAZ Parking and Cityfront Place Apartments are providing locations for the vehicles to be based out of.

As part of the City of Chicago’s Climate Action Plan, hundreds of public access charging stations will be installed by the end of 2012.

Charles Stephens, general manager, Zipcar Chicago, explained: ‘We are looking forward to providing our Chicago Zipsters with increased opportunities to reduce their environmental impact and drive some of the most technologically-advanced vehicles on the road as we roll out this EV program over the coming months.’

Zipcar was the first car share to add electric vehicles to its fleet with the Toyota RAV4 EV in Boston in 2002, followed by the first hybrids in Seattle in 2003.