Sixt, Germany's largest car rental company, and energy supplier RWE expanded their partnership and started a pilot program Tuesday to offer customers the opportunity to rent electric cars.

The Karabag 500 E and Micro-Vett Fiorino E, electric cars based on Fiat's most popular models, will be available at various sites throughout Germany. The offer is a pilot project aimed at testing the viability and suitability of modern electric cars as well as customer acceptance.

"Electric mobility is meeting with increasing interest from drivers as fuel prices rise. Together with RWE, we have promoted the infrastructure for this modern form of transport and are now jointly working towards the next logical step. By making electric cars available to our customers for rent, we are testing the acceptance of this exciting technology. At the same time, this means we have added yet another innovative offer to our range of rental car options," said Nico Gabriel, electric mobility project head at Sixt AG.

Initially, the vehicles will be available for rent in Essen until June 30, 2010, and then in Munich, Hamburg, Dresden and Berlin over the following 12 months. Sixt employees will assist customers with the technology and explain how to charge the cars using the RWE charging stations on site. The vehicles are equipped with Sat Navs, which display the locations of all RWE charging stations in Germany.

The rental price for the Karabag 500 E starts at €59 per day while the Micro-Vett Fiorino E can be rented for €79 per day. Both prices include unlimited kilometers. In addition, there are electricity costs of a mere 4 cents per kilometer. This offer can be conveniently booked through the Sixt website at www.sixt.de or by calling the hotline at 01805-25-25-25.