Some fleets stalled in efforts to go green

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2005 | by Chris Woodyard

LOS ANGELES -- Local governments, rental car companies and other fleet operators wanting to join the "green" car revolution are seeing red over long waits for popular gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

"I would take 500 Toyota Priuses tomorrow if I could get them," says Jeff Pink, CEO of EV Rental Cars, a Los Angeles-based agency specializing in environmentally friendly vehicles. "I've been begging these guys to give us cars for over a year."

Consumers are waiting up to two months for delivery of hybrids. Some fleet operators say they're waiting months longer.

Both Toyota, with its Prius sedan, and Ford Motor, with its Escape hybrid SUV, say they're doing their best to fill fleet orders. But big rental car chains aren't getting Prius or Escape hybrids because they...