A new way to make summer vacations a little more sustainable is emerging in the car rental market. Whether you drive an old beater or zip around town in a Tesla when you’re at home, it’s getting easier and easier to drive an electric vehicle when you travel. Electric vehicle rental cars are already commonplace in Europe, and now Hertz is taking big steps to electrify its rental fleet in the United States. An electric rental fleet has the potential to do more than reduce emissions from tourists’ trips. People who drive an electric vehicle while on vacation are more likely to choose an electric vehicle when it’s time to replace their own car, which for most Americans is the largest component of their carbon footprint .
Hertz EV
Global car rental company Hertz is investing in electricity in a big way. Hertz Electrifies is a public-private partnership between Hertz and select North American cities that they say will result in the largest fleet of electric rental vehicles in North America. Hertz has ordered hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles over the past year. Denver will see 5,200 new rental electric vehicles this year alone. Rental offerings will include Tesla, Polestar and GM vehicles. They will be available to both airport travelers and carpool drivers, who will pay special weekly rates.
As part of the project, Hertz also partnered with Bp to develop a national electric vehicle charging network through Bp Pulse, the oil company’s electric vehicle charging division. Through this partnership, Hertz is installing charging infrastructure at key locations in Denver and Houston, and at airports in Los Angeles and Tampa, among other locations across the country. The “Hertz Charging Opportunity Index” will share anonymized and aggregated data from its fleet of connected cars with partner cities to help inform the creation of additional charging infrastructure. You can encourage Hertz to add your city to its electrification program by emailing hertzelectrifies@hertz.com.
European holidays
Although Hertz is a global company with rental cars available from Argentina to Zimbabwe, the Hertz Electrifies partnership program is currently limited to cities in the United States. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck renting combustion engine cars abroad. In Europe, both Hertz and Sixt (which has the largest European fleet) offer a selection of electric vehicles for hire.
Electric vehicles are much more common in Europe than in the US. they account for more than 10% of new car sales in France and account for the majority of new cars in Norway. About 20% of rental cars available in Europe are electric, often through lower promotional rates. Given the higher price of gas in Europe, renting an electric vehicle is often cheaper, even when the rental is not subject to promotional discounts.
In Iceland, where more than a quarter of a million Americans traveled in 2021, the government plans to subsidize electric car rentals worth ISK 1 billion (roughly $7.25 million) and has already abolished VAT on electric cars. Since driving the Ring Road across the island nation is a major activity for foreign tourists, this move has the potential to have a big impact, if the charging infrastructure is put in place outside the area of urbanized capital.
Load challenge
Charging infrastructure continues to make long-distance travel in an electric vehicle a challenge. Many electric vehicles need to be charged more often than a vehicle with a combustion engine should.
Different types of electric vehicles can have different types of charging plugs, and finding the right type of station can be a challenge. (You may be able to rent a car with a plug adapter to expand the number of stations you can charge at.) For a US road trip, you should plan ahead a route with charging stations at necessary intervals . European charging stations may be readily available, but you can’t pay with a credit card like you would at a gas station. You usually need to create an account with an electric vehicle charging company through an app, which may differ from country to country. You also have to schedule extra time into your itinerary for charging, which can cut into your vacation.
For most destinations, these challenges are not insurmountable. Renting an electric vehicle can be a cost-effective way to turn your city break or even road trip into a more sustainable vacation. Note that the greener option still requires more effort than the conventional option.
