Crowe Properties owner Patrick Crowe originally planned to operate a car-sharing program for one of his new Minneapolis developments, Intersect Apartments.
Then Crowe discovered that the car-sharing program HOURCAR had already created an initiative to install electric vehicles at apartment buildings around the region.
“It was a no-brainer,” he said.
Today, two HOURCARs are available behind the 96-unit building at 310 N. Second St. in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis.
“Everybody in Minnesota feels like they must have a car,” Crowe said. “The beauty of HOURCAR is that residents who use their cars infrequently could try to live without a car.”
HOURCAR’s Multifamily Electric Car Share pilot began two years ago in partnership with Xcel Energy and the American Lung Association. By the end of last year, HOURCARs could be found at low-income and market-rate apartments in Minneapolis, Little Canada, Richfield, Bloomington, and St. Louis Park.
James Vierling, HOURCAR’s head of growth, marketing and communications, said that owners in the program see the cars as an asset and that he’s “seen relatively good utilization out of almost all of the sites so far.”
Seven apartments have HOURCARS, with three more under construction and several more under contract. Vierling said he’s still looking for another eight to 11 apartment owners to sign on with the program’s relaunch this month. The organization provides Nissan Leafs or Chevrolet Bolts to apartment sites.
Here’s how the program works. HOURCAR requires apartment owners to provide two spaces for two cars and maintain one dual Level Two charger for 10 years. Xcel pays all the installation costs for affordable housing apartments and 50% for market-rate projects. HOURCAR pays for the electricity, recouping some of that cost from subscribers who pay to drive vehicles.
For Crowe , the presence of HOURCAR has added to his sustainability initiatives. Intersect has all electric units, onsite solar powering common areas, a green roof, EV and electric bike charging, resident access to two electric bikes, and a composting program. He also buys clean electricity from an Xcel Energy program.
To jump-start interest in HOURCAR, he offered tenants who “ditch their car” up to $250 monthly for costs associated with using the car-sharing program. So far, two tenants have taken the offer. Perhaps because the apartment is relatively new, Crowe has found that most of the HOURCAR patrons using Intersect’s HOURCARs live in the neighborhood rather than in his building.
Dale Howey, the owner of Green Rock Apartments , has two electric HOURCARs at his 1600 Park Ave. property and will add two at his Portland Avenue building. Most users have been people living in the neighborhood, not those residing in his building. “People seem to like it, and it’s been working,” he said.
Building owners should find plenty to like in having HOURCARs at their sites, Howey said. HOURCARs showcase a building owner’s embrace of sustainability, carbon reduction and alternative transportation. Howey even figures parking lots could be smaller if fewer people owned cars. “I’d rather get rid of asphalt and have fewer cars,” he said.
HOURCAR’s success
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Two programs operate under the HOURCAR banner. HOURCAR offers gas, hybrid and electric vehicles that must be returned to where drivers picked them up. Its much larger companion EV car-sharing program, Evie Community Carshare, permits drivers to leave cars anywhere within a 35-square-mile area of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Together, they are the nation’s biggest car-sharing initiative.
A recent annual report showed the subscriber base for HOURCAR and Evie “is continually increasing yearly,” said Vierling. “We’re seeing a very good growth in our utilization, too.”
Evie has been the star of HOURCAR’s offerings. An annual
report published in April said Evie had a 126% increase in utilization from 2022 to 2023, with more than 150,000 trips reported. Subscriptions jumped 55% to more than 8,500 members.
Part of the goal of the car share services was to serve BIPOC and low-income households who may not have access to a vehicle. Vierling said Evie is close to meeting the organization’s 2026 goals, including BIPOC drivers accounting for 43% of the utilization. Low-income users represented 43% of the membership, with 21% coming from BIPOC communities, he said.
The city of St. Paul has been the lead sponsor of HOURCAR and Evie, with partners including the American Lung Association, Xcel Energy, Minneapolis, East Metro Strong and two neighborhood organizations. Funding comes from the Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, General Motors, the McKnight Foundation, 3M and others. Though HOURCAR manages the cars and the network, the chargers are built by Minneapolis-based
Zef Energy and owned by Minneapolis or St. Paul.
HOURCAR’s future
The car-sharing network could expand its geography over the next few years, with assistance from St. Paul and Minneapolis, which help pay for chargers that service Evies and HOURCARs.
St. Paul EV Charging and Electric Carshare Program Coordinator Erin Kayser said the city is applying to have the charger network cover more St. Paul neighborhoods and add a few surrounding cities with bus rapid transit lines.
The city installs two chargers in public right-of-way locations, one devoted to Evies and the other available to the public. Xcel’s renewable energy program powers the chargers. The program has exceeded expectations, with as many as 3,000 monthly charges, but that has brought challenges, Kayser said.
St. Paul’s problem with copper theft from streetlights extends to chargers, which cost around $1,000 to repair. It also diminishes the experience of
EV Spot Network users who may not return to its chargers for fear they will not function, Kayser said.
One limitation is that the city and the program want to expand cars and chargers in tandem, not separately. “We want to add the car-share and the public charging at the same rate,” she said. “The expansion has been admittedly slow, but we’re always looking for opportunities for funding and growth.”
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