Pioneer Press: Evie electric carshare seeks to expand, despite loss of federal grant
"Where there's a will, there's a way." We agree! Check out this story from Fred Melo about what's new at HOURCAR and Evie.
By Frederick Melo | fmelo@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
PUBLISHED: December 28, 2025 at 6:41 PM CST
When Amy Brendmoen took the helm of HourCar this year as its interim chief executive officer, she found a promising nonprofit carsharing model struggling to be seen. There were too few cars and too much confusion over its services. Insurance costs had skyrocketed.
Then came a decision by the Trump administration to cancel a $560,000 federal grant intended to enable HourCar to add dozens of electric vehicles on St. Paul’s East Side, a service area that commercial carsharing companies like Car2Go and ZipCar mostly avoided before exiting the Twin Cities a decade ago.
HourCar, based on Prior Avenue in St. Paul, announced this month that it had installed an electric-vehicle charging hub at an affordable-housing development on the East Side anyway, testing a partnership strategy it hopes to see expand to more housing sites over the coming year.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” said Brendmoen, former president of the St. Paul City Council, during a recent ride-along……
