EU to consider requiring all rental and corporate fleets to be EV

European Car rental and corporate fleets would be required to be 100% EV by 2030 if a plan the European Commission is working on moves forward, according to Bloomberg. 

An EU source told German newspaper Bild that the move would impact 60% of new car business. The plan is expected to be presented later in the summer. 

The EU already plans to phase out combustion vehicle sales by 2035. 

Multiple rental car companies have adjusted EV plans in the past couple of years.  

SIXT, a European rental car company, decided to phase Tesla EVs out of its fleet in 2023, according to Teslarati, a publication that reports on EVs. However, it later purchased EV vehicles from Stellantis and other cheaper EVs. 

The company plans to be between 70 and 90 percent EVs in Europe by 2030. 

Hertz also dumped about 20,000 EVs from its fleet last year, which was about one-third of its global EV fleet, to reinvest in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. 

Stephen Scherr, Hertz’s chief executive, told the New York Times that Tesla’s decision to cut the cost of its vehicles by 30% devalued Hertz’s fleet. Tesla also wouldn’t play ball with discounting parts for the rental company, the story said. 

Hertz found EVs are involved in more crashes, according to the article. 

“One potential reason the electric vehicles at Hertz were involved in more accidents, Mr. Scherr said, was that many people renting those cars did not have experience with the technology despite efforts by the company to educate customers,” the New York Times article said. “Electric cars accelerate more quickly than gasoline vehicles, and they are heavier. Demand for the vehicles was also less than the company had expected, Mr. Scherr continued.”

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