After 20 years, the nonprofit car-sharing operation known as HourCar is rolling to a stop next week. The fate of its Evie electric car-sharing and car-charging network remains more up in the air, but all reservations booked for after Oct. 15 will be canceled.

“Technically, Evie CarShare is a service, a program, of the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and HourCar is the operator,” said Amanda LaGrange, who became chief executive officer of HourCar in May. “Because HourCar is sunsetting, Evie will not be available after Oct. 15.”The nonprofit, which is based in St. Paul and primarily services St. Paul and Minneapolis, announced the decision of its seven-member board of directors on its website, as well as in a written statement emailed Thursday to its members. The organization’s 22 staff members were informed of the coming shutdown on Thursday morning.

To maintain and expand operations over the years, the car-sharing service — which allows members to book a fuel-efficient car for hourly use via an app — has relied heavily on financial support from St. Paul, Minneapolis, Xcel Energy and other public, private and philanthropic partners, as well as federal grants.

LaGrange said the board convened Tuesday night and determined that while they had made headway on a $1.1 million budget gap, some $625,000 remained to be raised to complete a $5 million budget and keep the organization afloat. With most fundraising avenues already exhausted and cities, counties and fellow nonprofits expressing alarm about their own finances, finding the extra cash seemed unlikely.

“Earlier this summer, we asked for your help in reaching out to your elected representatives as we sought to bridge a budget gap caused by nationwide vehicle insurance increases and shifting federal support,” reads the written statement.

“Unfortunately, our outreach efforts have been unsuccessful and due to critical financial hurdles, after completing due diligence and consulting with legal counsel, HOURCAR’s Board of Directors have voted to sunset operations with a final service date of Thursday, October 15.”

Plans called for an East Side expansion

The nonprofit, which is based on Prior Avenue, maintains some 4,000 active members. Former St. Paul City Council President Amy Brendmoen, a consultant to businesses and nonprofits, was recruited by the HourCar board last year as interim CEO and something of a turn-around artist, around the time the Trump administration chose to cancel a $560,000 federal grant intended to support the Evie network’s expansion to St. Paul’s East Side.

Some of the federal grant eventually trickled in, allowing HourCar to indeed add a few stations on the East Side. LaGrange said the nonprofit had planned this fall on “going even deeper into the East Side of St. Paul. … We were trying to get to a point where we were 100% electric.”

HourCar has 170 electric “free float” Evie vehicles that can be leased by app and parked almost anywhere in Minneapolis or St. Paul, as well as 90 station-based HourCars, many of which are also electric but must be returned to an HourCar hub. Brendmoen noted last year that the two service models had created some confusion among potential users.

The Evie network, which includes more than 70 curbside “EV Spot” car-charging stations throughout both Minneapolis and St. Paul, is jointly owned by the nonprofit and the two cities. When it launched in 2022, it was hailed as the first municipally owned electric car-sharing network in the country.

Instead of expansion, the nonprofit has signaled it will accept donations to help wind down operations.

“The decision was difficult and complex, and it was not made lightly,” reads the statement from HourCar.

Officials said they were buffeted by rising operating expenses and reductions in anticipated federal grants. LaGrange noted that insurance costs doubled last year to make up 23% of the organization’s expenses.

A long shot to stay open

Despite “cost-cutting measures, fundraising efforts, and support from foundation and corporate partners,” they wrote, “we now face an immediate funding gap that has threatened our ability to continue operating.”

Could an emergency lifeline keep its doors open and its cars in motion, or help restart HourCar down the road? That doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility, according to organizers, who are urging supporters to tag them on social media, contact their elected officials “and share your personal story about how carshare impacts your life.”

“We specifically have been asking local leaders to support emergency bridge funding while longer-term solutions could be further developed,” reads their written statement.

LaGrange acknowledged that keeping HourCar open — or continuing Evie as a municipal offering under the auspices of a different nonprofit operator — seemed unlikely.

“It feels like a long shot,” she said. “We gave them their best option and weren’t able to make the finances work.”

“We feel like we have a short window (in which) we could keep from shutting down,” she added. “It would be far easier to keep HourCar running rather than trying to stand it up again in the future. It’s a very capital-intense operation. … I don’t want to give any false sense of hope to anybody. Everything is in motion for a shutdown.”

Members who recently resubscribed can request a refund of their annual account verification fee via an online form available on the HourCar website, or treat the fee as a charitable contribution to help the nonprofit close its doors.