BMW Earns Profit By The Minute With Car Sharing: Is Ownership Dead?

DriveNow GmbH, a joint car-sharing venture between BMW and Sixt AG has begun turning a profit, and one of its closest competitors, which is Daimler’s Car2Go, should be “back in the black” by next year.

Green Car Reports pointed out that increased car rental may be partially motivated by increased environmental awareness, but for what reason?

Renting a car still entails using a car, so it may sound odd for people to rent cars instead of buying one to reduce their environmental footprint. Fortunately, car rental could and likely will play a very important role in reducing the environmental footprints of those that use public transportation. Those who drive small cars, but would rather occasionally rent large SUVs and trucks to avoid delivery costs, and to avoid buying these large, inefficient vehicles. Urban residents can even get around owning any car at all.

Some people can use public transportation most of the time, but the trains and buses don’t go everywhere. Car sharing allows members to rent a car on very short notice, and the fact that car sharing businesses are starting to turn a profit shows how much promise is in this business model. Avis recently purchased ZipCar, an American car-sharing agency, for $500 million, and BMW’s DriveNow program is proving very popular in Europe. Might there be a day when more people “share” cars than own them?

Source: Green Car Reports

AVIS PRE-ORDERS 500 RENAULT ELECTRIC VEHICLES FOR HIRE

Renault Kangoo EV







Can't wait to rent an EV for a week.

PRESS RELEASE:

• Following the Electric Vehicle partnership announced in February 2010, leading
car hire company, Avis has signed a pre-order for 500 Electric Vehicles from
Renault.
• Avis customers will be able to hire Renault Fluence ZE and Renault Kangoo
Express ZE in 7 countries from the end of 2011.

Avis will offer its customers the chance to experience driving an electric vehicle for hire in the
following countries: France, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal.
Pascal Bazin, Chief Executive Officer for Avis Europe, explains: “At Avis, we’re committed to
providing customers with choice when it comes to mobility and our partnership with Renault is
another way in which we are fulfilling this commitment by expanding our fleet to include electric
vehicles. The vehicles complement our existing mobility offer, providing an alternative to
traditional car hire that will benefit both business and leisure customers who are concerned
about their impact on the environment.”

Senior Vice President, Renault Corporate Sales Division, Uwe Hochgeschurtz, adds: “We are
the only European carmaker who is developing a complete range of affordable electric vehicles
with our own batteries, our own technologies and our own production system to guarantee a
high level of quality and performance. By hiring an electric vehicle through Avis, the public will
be able to experience new driving technology and learn about the environmental benefits of
electric vehicles.”

Renault has just revealed the first two production models of its electric vehicle range: Kangoo
Express ZE, a light commercial vehicle, and Fluence ZE, a family sedan.
Renault’s range of electric vehicles will later be extended by two new cars, exclusively designed
for electrical power:

- Renault Twizy, a nimble and practical electric vehicle for city motoring (2 seats – 4 wheels)
- Renault ZOE, a compact and flexible hatchback for everyday use.

The Renault electric vehicles join Avis’s already extensive eco mobility offering. Each car on the
Avis fleet is typically only six months old, to ensure maximum fuel efficiency, whilst the average
CO2 emissions for cars purchased in 2009 was just 144.6g CO2/Km. The company also offers
hundreds of vehicles which run on fuels other than petrol or diesel, while both leisure and
business customers have the option to offset their carbon emissions prior to their journey.
With a long history of environmental awareness, Avis has offset more than 156,000 tonnes of
CO2 since 1997 by investing in a host of environmental initiatives such as renewable energy,
methane capture projects and tree planting, which mean the company has been
CarbonNeutral® accredited for more than a decade.

For more information about Avis, its green fleet and its environmental credentials, please visit
avis-europe.com and avis-greenerworld.com.
For more information about Renault and its future electric range, please visit Renault.com.

Avis Europe to Offer Renault Electric Cars for Hire from 2011

An Early Renault EV Prototype



How cool would it be to fly into your destination, head over to the Avis desk and proceed to rent an electric car? Or what if you were considering the purchase of a Renault EV and had the opportunity of renting it for a week first? Well, Avis of Europe is going to make the scenarios above a reality. We would love to be able to demo an electric vehicle before making the big commitment of a purchase.

From Green Car Congress:

Avis Europe has partnered with the Renault-Nissan Alliance to offer electric cars to its customers from 2011.

We are delighted to sign this important partnership with Renault to offer electric vehicles as part of our green fleet, which is an increasingly central part of our customer offering. Despite the impact of the recession, consumers are just as aware of the issues of climate change and it is only by working together with our partners that will we be able to make a difference.

—Pascal Bazin, Chief Executive for Avis Europe

From 2011, Renault will progressively roll out four electric vehicles. (Earlier post.) These include two derivatives of internal-combustion vehicles: the Renault Fluence Z.E., an electric version of Fluence; and the Renault Kangoo Express Z.E., an electric version of Renault Kangoo Express, intended primarily for fleet and business use.

The range of electric vehicles will later be extended to cover other segments, including two new cars whose architecture will be designed to run exclusively with electrical power: a car derived from the Twizy Z.E. Concept for motoring in built-up areas; and one that takes its inspiration from Zoe Z.E. Concept and is scheduled to be released at the beginning of 2012. It will be a particularly versatile vehicle intended for everyday motoring in and around cities.

Each car in the Avis Europe fleet is typically only six months old, to ensure maximum fuel efficiency, and the average CO₂ emissions for cars purchased in 2009 was 144.6 g CO₂/km.