Combining the business models of a carshare firm (like HOURCAR) and vacation home rental service (like Idaho Cabin Keepers) and what do you get? TransportCHAIN, a business plan competition winning start-up that is launching the first person-to-person car sharing service.

For many urban dwellers that own a car and commute using mass transit the concept is great. Rent my car while I’m gone at work. Reserve it online when I need to on the weekends. Seems like a very attractive model especially considering the economic climate the US is currently in.

According to the NY Times blog post about TransportCHAIN they will only be renting cars to approved and insured drivers. One piece major piece of advice that us in the alternative fuel industry can pass on to our friends at TransportCHAIN, never underestimate Americans love affair with the automobile.

T. Boone Pickens learned the hard way, after spending $62 million on the Pickens Plan he switched from calling for light-duty consumers vehicles to switch to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to heavy-duty commercial 18-wheelers. In T. Boone’s own words, “America is nuts about cars. I don’t quite understand this thing about horsepower. Cars are not a big deal to me, but they are a big deal to a lot of people."

TransportCHAIN needs to heed the advice America is nuts about cars. Do some extensive first-hand market research to know exactly who would be willing to rent out their car. Personally it’s not me, but I’m willing to guess there is a segment out there. The trick is to find them and market efficiently before running out of funding.

• carshare
• cng
• Pickens
• Boone
• TransportCHAIN
• PickensPlan
• HOURCAR