AAA and Electrify America have partnered on an electric-car subscription venture in California.
Under the program, AAA Car Subscription now has 55 2018 Volkswagen e-Golf hatchbacks available for long-term rental in Sacramento, the two companies announced via press release Tuesday.
This serves as a demonstration project funded through Electrify America's Green Cities initiative, part of the Cycle 2 plan as mandated by the Volkswagen diesel settlement. Electrify America was created to spend $2 billion of VW diesel-cheating penalties over 10 years, with most of that going to charging infrastructure so far.
Sacramento-area residents will be able to rent an e-Golf, with terms ranging from three months to one year, with different monthly mileage options.
Aimed at residents of low-income and disadvantaged communities, the subscription service costs $11 a day. That fee includes insurance, repairs, maintenance, and roadside assistance.
2019 Volkswagen e-Golf
Green Car Reports ran a long-term e-Golf in 2015—when it was rated at just 83 miles of range—and were impressed by its packaging, performance, and predictable range and charging.
The cars in the AAA fleet are later models, rated at 125 miles of range. The range boost came during a 2017-model-year update that also raised output from 115 horsepower and 119 pound-feet of torque to 134 hp and 214 lb-ft.
The e-Golf was discontinued after the 2019 model year, at which point Volkswagen had delivered over 100,000 cars globally. In Europe, the e-Golf will be replaced with the ID.3 hatchback, scheduled to begin deliveries before the end of this year.
The ID.3 won't be sold in the United States, which will instead get the ID.4 crossover starting later this year. The MEB platform under both of those new vehicles is expected to spawn a family of electric models, including a modern interpretation of the classic VW Microbus, scheduled to arrive in the U.S. in 2022.
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that the subscription service is available to anyone, not just AAA members.