Europcar To Offer Alternative Car Hire

Europcar, a European car hire company and Nissan have partnered to offer electric cars for hire in 2010. The new partnership will mark a first for the car rental industry, making Europcar the first car hire company to offer electric car rental.

Europcar has become known in recent years for its efforts to offer “green” alternatives to its customers.  It is not the first time that Europcar has gained attention for use of more eco friendly business practices.  Europcar has increasingly made efforts to “go green” since the Green Charter was ceritified back in 2008.

“This signature fits perfectly with the principles of our Green charter and our action policy intended to offer our customers a fleet with as limited an impact as possible on the environment. We will thus give our customers the option of exploring a new means of mobility by giving them the unique experience of using an electric vehicle in order to encourage them to become better eco-citizens,” said the chief operating officer of Europcar, Rafael Girona.

The cars will first be available for hire in New Zealand and Australia, followed by France, UK, Germany, Belguim, Portugal, Spain, and Italy in Europe.  The company plans to mass produce the vehicles and offer them worldwide by 2012.  By next year the company hopes to introduce them into the US and Japan as well. Eventually Europcar would like to have every vehicle they offer for hire electric.

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