Magazine for the professional car and truck rental industry.
rent ALERT FOR UPDATES, VISIT WWW.AUTORENTALNEWS.COM EVs in Rental: Who's Doing What?
Through various partnerships and pilot programs, both car rental and car-sharing companies alike are implementing electric vehicles into fl eet — and each in its own unique way.
BY JOANNE M. TUCKER W
hether its plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), electric vehicles (EVs) or local use vehicles (LUVs), these zero- to low-emission cars are fi nding a spot in auto rental
and car sharing as companies bring these vehicles into fl eet. T e most recent announcements come from Hertz and Enterprise.
'Plugless Power' T e Hertz Corp. and Hertz Global EV are implementing the
fi rst wireless charging system for EVs in the industry. Hertz, and leaders from fi ve other industry segments, will trial "Plug- less Power" systems on their own EVs. Participants will pro- vide feedback on daily usage routines, user interfaces and any additional functionality needed.
Plugless Power, supplied by Virginia-based Evatran, uti-
lizes inductive power transfer, which has been used in elec- trical transformers for more than 100 years. As of press time, installation at Hertz's corporate headquarters was set for com- pletion in February.
"Hertz is committed to its Global EV program, introduc- ing electric vehicles into our rental fl eet on three continents — North America, Asia and Europe," said Mark P. Frissora, Hertz chairman and CEO. "We're excited to participate in Plugless Power's pilot program so that we can be on the ground fl oor of this new technology; learning key fi ndings about EV wire- less charging. As we move forward our goal is to have a vari- ety of charging options for EV customer use, aligned with the charging equipment installed by EV manufacturers." Hertz has EVs and PHEVs in the cities of New York, Wash- ington, D.C., San Francisco, London and Shanghai. In an in- terview with Auto Rental News in August, Hertz spokesper- son Rich Broome said the company plans to have 1,000 EVs on the road by the end of this year.
PHOTO BY JOANNE M. TUCKER
In 2010, Enterprise leased six LUVs to launch a project with the South Bay Cities Council of Govern- ments. The project tracks how the vehicles are used and where they are driven.
'EV Owners Discount Program'
At an Enterprise Rent-A-Car event in Torrance, Calif. in early February, the car rental company announced that it is adding the Torrance branch to its list of locations off ering EV rentals with the addition of Nissan Leafs and an on-site charg- ing station. T e Torrance rental offi ce is the 11th Enterprise location in Southern California to off er EV rentals. Enterprise is also piloting an "EV Owners Discount Pro- gram," which provides EV owners with a 15% discount off the regular retail rate when they need to rent a longer-range vehi- cle. T e EV owners can charge up their own EVs at Enterprise during the rental period.
Also at the event were the Torrance branch LUVs, which are being used in a study through Enterprise and the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG), which includes 16 cities and the County of Los Angeles. T ese EVs have a range of 30 miles and can drive up to 25 mph.
In 2010, Enterprise helped the SBCCOG lease and prepare six of these LUVs to launch the project, which follows where users take the vehicles, for how long and other data that will be useful in creating an EV infrastructure in the area, according to Jacki Bacharach, executive director of SBCCOG. South Coast Air Quality Management District provided funding for the LUV demonstration program in cooperation with SBCCOG.
"Enterprise has been a good private collaborator, bring- ing their expertise in vehicle fl eet purchase and management to our project," said Ellen Perkins, SBCCOG chair and Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. councilwoman. "Combined with our ef- forts to further EV infrastructure development, this is an ex- cellent example of the public and private sectors working to- gether toward a common goal to improve our environment. It's these kinds of collaborations that will help drive the type of change we need."
Other companies that have recently integrated EVs into
fl eet include I-GO Car Sharing in Chicago, in which the non- profi t's 36 EVs are charged through solar-powered charging stations. City CarShare in San Francisco had its fi rst delivery of the Mitsubishi i in December. T e nonprofi t will eventual- ly have nine of these EVs in fl eet.
For more information about the LUVs in Torrance, go to www.southbaycities.org, or for more about Plugless Power, visit www.pluglesspower.com.
32 ARN • MARCH / APRIL 2012
