May 29, 2008
Advantage Aims For First 100% Hybrid Rental Fleet In U.S.
Advantage Rent A Car has committed itself to becoming the first major all green car rental company in the U.S.
The company will turn 100 percent of its fleet “green” over the next 24 months, subject to manufacturers’ assistance and vehicle availability, Advantage Rent A Car Chairman Denny Hecker announced at the American Car Rental Show in Las Vegas.
Currently, the company’s U.S. Fleet Web page doesn’t list any hybrids.
Over the past year, Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis have added thousands of hybrid to their fleets.
Advantage said it hopes to serve leisure travelers as well as government and corporate travelers with fleet vehicle purchases like the Toyota Prius and Chevy Tahoe hybrid.
More than half of U.S. adults surveyed said they would be more likely to select a rental car, airline or hotel that uses more environmentally friendly products and processes.
A Priceline.com survey showed seventy-two percent of travelers want rental car companies to offer hybrid vehicles. Almost half of the 764 people surveyed said they would be willing to pay a premium for their green rental.
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Reader Comments
While I applaud Advantage’s interst in greening its fleet and its decision to purchase hybrid vehicles, if they want to be as green as possible – they should also include some new clean diesel vehicles in the fleet. Clean diesels get 20-40% better fuel economy than gasoline vehicles and emit 10-20% less CO2. While hybrids are particularly fuel efficient in city traffice, their fuel economy benefits decline with lots of highway driving – where clean diesels will perform as good or better. Renters include a variety of drivers and hopefully Advantage will include a variety of green cars in their fleet to make it as green as possible
Dawn Fenton | May 30th, 2008
Excellnet, I have published this article for our members to view on Green Vyouz.
Melnaie Hetfield | May 31st, 2008
Rather than either/or, how bout we ask them for diesel/electric PLUG-IN hybrids that get the efficiency of diesel multiplied by the efficiency of electic hybridizing AND let you recharge overnight for “$1 a gallon” equivalent to gasoline? Plug-ins’ bigger batteries will let you go 40-60 miles on electricity before the gas engine kicks in. Currently, hybrids only go for like 2 miles on just electricity before the engine comes on to keep the batteries topped off.
TroopSupporter | June 6th, 2008
Very cool hybrid vehicles. We must to love eco lifestyle. There are other ecofriendly hybrid products. Example Zeus Street Lamp by http://www.cydoniashop.eu
Zeus Lamp wind – solar power.
cydonia | September 21st, 2009