Car rental service to offer easy transit option

Xiamen-based car service company, Huaxia Lida, has rolled out plans to launch a public car rental project utilizing new energy vehicles.

The project is scheduled to begin in Oct 2015 with a total investment of 800 million yuan ($128.83 million).

The first phase of the project will include the planning and construction of 20 parking lots across the Xiamen's bustling Siming district. Each parking lot will contain 25 parking spaces.

Once all phases of the plan are completed, 260 parking lots will be located all over the Xiamen city in close range to transit hubs, commercial blocks and tourism sites.

A first batch of 500 new energy cars will be put into use by 2016. The company plans to add 1,500 cars to the fleet in 2017, 1,000 cars in 2018 and 500 cars each year after 2018.

A handful of other Chinese cities have already launched similar car rental networks. The system works like a bike rental scheme, in that the vehicles can be picked up and dropped off at a number of locations.

Anyone with a C-class driver license can rent a car from a parking lot close to their departing point and return the car to a parking lot after arrival. A car and a parking space can be booked on a mobile app or website.

It remains unclear how Huaxia Lida would charge its clients.

For most car rental projects in China, the rates are based on rented hours and are lower than the cost of a taxi.

The ccclubs.com, a car rental platform, offers a wide range of vehicles for rent in Beijing Hangzhou. Rental rates range from 13.7 yuan to 29.0 yuan per hour.

Jinan city will launch its car rental program in October, which will be the first one in Shandong. The rates will be 20 yuan for the first hour and 6 yuan for each following hour, allowing people to travel from downtown Jinan to the city's international airport at a cost of 20 yuan.

The car rental service offers value for money to customers, since no parking fees or fuel expenses will be charged.