Thirteen months after its inception, Maven, the car-sharing brand launched by General Motors, has added a vehicle to its lineup that could soon become the centerpiece of its operations: the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle. It recently joined the brand?s Los Angeles fleet, a deployment designed to accelerate Maven?s business in one of the country?s most green-friendly markets. It?s unclear how many Bolts will be available immediately, but GM plans to add more than 100 eventually in the greater Los Angeles region.
In a city where car culture still holds sway, Maven?s car-sharing service has been embraced quickly by many residents. Since launching in October 2016, the Maven City program in Los Angeles has seen average membership growth of 56 percent each month. In addition to customer demand, the Bolts complement the city government?s stated desires to promote electric vehicles and new mobility choices. Since the city began implementing its ?pLAn? in April 2015, officials say they?ve installed more than 1000 publicly available electric-vehicle charging stations. General Motors says it is working with infrastructure providers to help continue to build the charging network. For a limited time, Maven members will have access to free charging in the EVgo Freedom Station network throughout California.

The plug-in Chevy Volt has already been part of Maven?s fleet of more than 60 cars in the Los Angeles area. With the Bolt, which offers an EPA-estimated range of 238 miles, prospec...