State Grid Shanghai Electric Power Co and Shanghai International Automobile City Co signing the agreement on e-car rental services in Shanghai [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Shanghai's State Grid Electric Power Co reached a deal with the Shanghai International Automobile City Co recently to expand electric car rental services in the city, Pudong Times reported, on Feb 16, noting that it calls for the two to each use their own advantages to work together on providing more charging facilities and rental sites.

The plan is to have 6,000 e-vehicles in use by the end of 2017, and enough charging stations and rental sites to encourage more locals to travel around in this more convenient way. One of the first places to benefit from this cooperation almost immediately was the city's Pudong New District, which added two more rental sites to its list on the day of signing, giving it a total of 13, most of them near industrial parks, leading enterprises and institutions, or exhibition centers and hotels.

The International Automobile City Co started the e-car rental service to promote a green, low-carbon life style locally and to make Shanghai more environmentally friendly.