Renault teams up with Europcar on electric vehicles

Car rental company Europcar has announced that it will support Renault's new fleet of electric vehicles, which are due to be rolled out in 2011. The move could pave the way for hire companies to generate direct revenue from refuelling.

In a joint statement issued this week, the car maker and rental company said they will sign an agreement at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt on 16 September on joint plans around electric vehicles.

Europcar said it will make the new electric vehicles available to its customers and create the infrastructure to recharge the vehicles via its network of rental offices.

The ability to charge customers for refuelling electric vehicles could be a new revenue stream for car hire companies. Schemes such as offering customers the ability to return cars with empty fuel tanks by pre-paying for fuel before use are already employed by rental companies to generate revenue.

Car rental companies are not the only firms to have picked up on the potential of offering electric car charging. In July, fast food giant McDonald's opened a "green" outlet in North Carolina which was the first restaurant in the chain to offer electric car charging.

Europcar was contacted for comment on how important revenue from electric vehicle charging could be to its future business but was not able to reply in time for this article.

"To address the issue of climate change, Europcar wanted to take things further with Renault by optimising short-term rental solutions suited to electric vehicles. We are proud to have our brand and staff involved in such a large-scale project, which is fully in line with our company’s sustainable development strategy and the goals set forth in our environmental charter," said Salvatore Catania, Europcar Group chief executive officer.

Renault said it plans to start selling an electric vehicle in 2011, with the Lithium-ion battery pack coming from Nissan and NEC. The companies have stated that they will roll out electric cars globally from 2012.

"Thanks to our ‘Zero-Emission’ mobility programme, Renault will offer a broad range of zero-emission vehicles starting in 2011. For Renault, electric vehicles with zero carbon dioxide emissions constitute a real answer to current environmental concerns," said Uwe Hochgeschurtz, director of Renault's corporate sales division.

In August, Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced it had stepped up its research into next-generation biofuels, hiring leading US scientists to oversee research work.

Andy Taylor, chairman and chief executive officer of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said developing biofuels was key to the ongoing success of the company.

"For Enterprise, our company's success depends on the availability of vehicles and fuel, and both must be acceptable to society – that is why we are taking steps now to invest in the future," he said.

US car hire giant Enterprise Rent-A-Car also opened its first "Green Branches " last month at four locations in Atlanta, in a move that it said was in response to growing customer demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Car rental companies are also facing pressure from environmentally sustainable car-sharing schemes such as Zipcar in the US and Streetcar in the UK.

In June, Streetcar launched the UK's first electric car hire scheme, offering Londoners the chance to hire a plug-in hybrid version of Toyota's popular Prius, while Zipcar began offering electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles from its new electric vehicle pod in central London in July.