The Irish car rental industry has given a cautious welcome to the Automotive Package proposals announced yesterday evening by the European Commission (EC) .
The proposals include mandatory targets for each Member State to drive zero- and low-emission vehicle uptake by large companies starting in 2030. However, the targets will be tailored to the unique situation of each Member State, and national authorities will have full flexibility to choose the best measures to achieve those targets.
Speaking following the Commission’s announcement, Peter Boland, Chief Executive of the Car Rental Council of Ireland said “The Automotive Package appears to recognise the need for pragmatic flexibility in the rolling out of zero and low-emission vehicles by fleets. We need to further analyse the detail of the proposals, but what is clear is that it is vital for the Irish car rental industry, and the broader Irish regional tourism industry, that the Irish Government does not hit car rentals with a premature zero-emission mandate, essentially a battery EV (BEV) mandate.
“The Irish car rental industry is fully engaged with the relevant state bodies in planning for fleet electrification. But there are significant barriers which need to be overcome, not least of which is the intense resistance among incoming tourists to renting BEVs right now . This issue is not exclusive to Ireland. It is a situation repeated right across Europe, even in Norway, which has blazed a trail in terms of BEV adoption but cannot get tourists to rent them yet.
“Customer resistance is compounded by other significant barriers such as charging anxiety and cost. These can only be overcome with the installation of comprehensive and reliable public charging infrastructure; and a state response to the significantly higher total cost of ownership of BEVs for car rental companies. The lack of charging infrastructure is a particular issue at Dublin Airport, which deals with 83% of inbound tourism rentals. Grid capacity constraints at the airport mean that the installation of meaningful charging capacity there is unlikely to begin before 2030.
“Countries with the fastest rate of BEV adoption, like Norway and Belgium, have all focused on the key enabling conditions of charging infrastructure and affordability; none have used BEV purchase mandates. The imposition of mandatory EV purchases would not accelerate enabling conditions or increase customer demand,” Boland said. “Instead, a purchase mandate would either force car rental companies to buy cars they know they cannot rent out or cause them to buy less cars and hold onto older internal combustion cars for longer. It is also likely to create situations where customers are forced to take a BEV when they do not want one.
“We call on Government and specifically Minister for Transport Darrah O’Brien to focus on the enabling conditions, particularly charging infrastructure and affordability measures, which will allow us to meet our national targets, as has proven successful in other European nations. Should Ireland decide to implement EV purchase mandates on certain types of fleets we agree with the recently stated Irish position, outlined by Minister of State Seán Canney at the European Transport Council , that we should avoid a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach and should exclude the rental sector from mandates.”
This call for action from the Minister has been echoed by leading representatives from the tourism sector. Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, CEO of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, said “Rental cars are an essential element of Irish tourism infrastructure with over half of all the overseas tourists who visit regional Ireland using them . They are a vital means of accessing the whole island and support regional tourism in a way that is socially and economically sustainable. Any move that will hamper the operation of the car rental fleet will have serious negative consequences for Irish tourism and must be resisted by our government.”