Getaround is one of a few "social car-rental" services that allow individuals to rent cars directly from one another. It's not car-sharing, like Zipcar, but peer-to-peer renting, coordinated by an iPhone app, according to All Cars Electric.
The idea is that since your car sits idle most of the time, you could rent it to someone else while you don't need it. You just need technology to coordinate the supply and demand, although private car insurance laws currently exist that mostly forbid policyholders from renting out their cars for money.
But Getaround displayed at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a Tesla Roadster Sport, which it's offering for rental at $25 an hour. The owner is a Getaround member who wanted to help promote the service and show electric cars to a wider audience.
All Cars Electric Senior Editor John Voelcker advised people to keep an eye on the range meter, since he went through 92 indicated miles of range in just 58 road miles. Make sure the owner has time for a full recharge if you're planning to rent it for a whole day.
He added that this isn't the only way to rent an electric car, of course. Hertz recently launched EV rentals in New York City, including the 2011 Nissan Leaf, the Smart Electric Drive, the prototype Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, and the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. It plans to roll out the program to other locations this year.