Maven brings its Gig on-demand car service for freelancers to San Francisco

GM’s Maven car-sharing service debuted Gig in May, a new offering on the platform designed specifically for gig economy workers. The idea is that people can rent cars for as little as a week at a time, with an all-in cost that covers insurance, maintenance and free charging for EVs. Now, Gig is kicking off in San Francisco, after its initial rollout in San Diego.

The SF launch includes a fleet made up of Chevrolet Bolt all-electric cars, as well as the Chevy Cruze, Malibu or Trax. Rates includes $229 per week for the Bolt, $189 per week for the Cruze, $199 per week for the Malibu and $209 per week for the Trax. These prices don’t include taxes, however, or fuel – though the Bolt does come with free charging at EVGo stations “for a limited time,” according to Maven.

The Maven Gig model is based on the idea that the freelance economy often means people need vehicles sometimes, but not consistently, and will set aside weeks or months where they’re more active doing things like ride hailing and on-demand delivery, in order to make some extra cash for specific goals. While Maven also partners with specific gig economy companies including Uber, Gig is designed to provide an open platform that can work with any services, though its official partners for Gig include GrubHub, Instacart, and Roadie to name a few.

Gig has seen 20,000 miles driven since launch in San Diego in May, Maven says, with a fleet of Bolt EVs exclusively. The expanded pool of available vehicles in San Francisco likely means Maven decided to tweak the model and offer more variety in the fleet based on user feedback from the San Diego pilot.

Theoretically, San Francisco should be the ideal fit for Gig, since it’s basically the home of the on-demand economy. Maven says Gig is coming to LA next, with a release sometime later this year.