Tips for creating a sustainable car rental company

In the last few years, there has been an increase in conversation around sustainable practices within the car rental business. With major car rental companies investing in electric vehicles, the trend toward sustainability will only increase and significantly impact the future of mobility. If you run a car rental company and want to contribute to a healthy and greener environment by going sustainable but need help figuring out where to begin, do not worry. We are here to help you understand sustainability, factors of sustainable development, and tips you can implement to create a sustainable car rental company.

In this blog, we are going to cover the following:

• What is sustainability?
• How sustainability works?
• What are the crucial factors of sustainability?
• What are the benefits of going sustainable?
• Tips for creating a sustainable car rental company

Let’s begin!

What is sustainability?

Sustainability entails taking action and conscious efforts to fulfill the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of the future generation. It is done with the realization that nature and resources are not inexhaustible and hence require protection and rational usage. 

The goal of practicing sustainability revolves around how to prevent climate change, protect the planet, and encourage social development without endangering the earth or compromising on the needs of today.

By consuming more resources than we need, we are responsible for putting pressure on biodiversity and generating waste and emissions. Global warming can have catastrophic impacts on the environment, and we have seen the magnitude of the adverse effects increasing, like hurricanes, heat waves, heavier rainfall, and more. One of the significant contributors to the release of greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane is cars. Twenty-four pounds of greenhouse gas is emitted for every gallon used by vehicles. When the car burns fuels in its internal combustion engine, it emits 19 pounds of gas into the environment. This is why it is crucial for everyone owning a car or business operating car rental services must implement a sustainable model.

How sustainability works?

Sustainability involves three interlocking discs: social, environmental, and economic, often labeled as people, planet, and profit. The practices involved in sustainability include a process that focuses on the health and vitality of humans, the economy, and the environment. When we implement practices that involve lesser fuel consumption and mindful utilization of natural resources, we make efforts towards a sustainable environment. Some common examples of practicing sustainability are cutting emissions, lowering energy usage, ensuring that the waste is disposed of properly, approaching fair trade organizations to source products, and leaving smaller carbon footprints. 

What are the crucial factors of sustainability?

Now that we’ve understood what sustainability is and how it works. It’s essential to understand what factors play a role in ensuring sustainability. Without this knowledge, achieving the goal of sustainability will always be daunting. We’ve broken down sustainability into six crucial factors: 

Climate change:
Climate change is significantly affecting our planet today. One of the leading causes of this is global warming resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases when fossil fuels burn. The changing weather patterns- like wildfire, heavy snow storms, and heavier rainfall are just some of the results of global warming. Now that we humans are responsible for this, we should fix the same. This can be done by switching to renewable sources of energy.

People:
It is in human nature to explore and utilize resources for their means. But this should not come at the cost of destroying our planet, or we won’t leave anything for the future generation. We must take accountability for our actions and consciously practice sustainability in everyday life- through the food we eat, the vehicles we drive, or the clothes we wear. Otherwise, we risk failing and making our planet inhabitable.

Environment:
Environmental sustainability refers to our efforts to make our planet worth living on. It could range from finding sustainable methods to procuring and utilizing natural resources like wood. The goal should be to use everything in moderation to cut down on waste and not compromise on the requirements of future generations. To be more sustainable, we need to keep a check on the overconsumption of resources. 

Ethics:
When we talk about ethics, we refer to every individual’s accountability toward the planet’s well-being. Our efforts should reflect respect toward the earth and approach flora and fauna with the same respect. As a business owner, you explore sustainable options like replacing high fuel-consumption cars with electric vehicles or using a robust system to ensure your vehicles are driven efficiently with route optimization to consume less fuel. 

Technology:
Technology has changed the world we live in, and it has the ability to make our lives more sustainable. Many organizations, big or small, have replaced polluting methods with renewable energy. For instance, car rental companies are replacing diesel and petrol cars with electric vehicles, thus generating less pollution. We need to continuously work on innovating technology to make the planet a healthier place to live.

Innovation:
If we want to leave our future generation with a healthy and greener planet, we need to be consciously innovative in our everyday lives. When we talk about innovation, it goes beyond technological and into philosophical as well as socio-economic. We need to change how we look at our planet and correct the mistakes we have avoided for so long. This could mean installing software that will help you analyze your fleet and optimize its usage. 

What are the benefits of going sustainable?

Lower CO2 emission:
The emission of CO2 is one of the major causes of global warming—the same fuel to power the car results in the release of CO2 gasses into the atmosphere. By switching to vehicles that consume less energy or going for electric cars, the CO2 emission substantially decreases compared to other vehicles.

Rental vehicles are more roadworthy:
Rental vehicles are more well-managed, maintained, and fitted with more security features than private ones. For example, every car is inspected for lights, brakes, tires, and fuel before and after every rental. These inspections help reduce collisions and casualties that may have happened without regular checks. 

On average, rental companies have reported that their vehicles are rented out almost 80% of the time. With constant maintenance after every trip, vehicles tend to last longer. It also enables higher utilization of assets from multiple users, reducing traffic and parking congestion. 

Reduces fossil fuel demands and increased demand for renewable sources:
We all know how the supply and demand equation works in the world. If we reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, it can minimize the negative impact which happens due to the burning of fossil fuels. There is a significant rise in the demand for vehicles that do not require fossil fuels to power them. Hence this could mean an increased demand for renewable sources. Undoubtedly, we will always need power, but switching to renewable sources like solar, wind, and hydro energy can be beneficial in the long run. For instance, we would use renewable energy sources to charge our cars.

Decreased noise pollution:
Did you know transportation is one of the most significant sources of noise pollution in several countries? Chronic noise exposure can result in various health issues like high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, sleep disturbance, hearing impairment, and more. By going sustainable, there will be fewer noise sources, lowering the impact on health. Statistically, electric and hybrid cars emit lower sound levels because they do not have internal combustion engines producing a higher level of noise. It is also noted that more silent vehicles improve mood and reduce the stress of the person driving the car.

More sustainable consumption:
Cars are a depreciating asset, which means the longer you have them, the harder they become to maintain, and they will be sold at a relatively lower price. Such is not the case with electric cars, which often have a 10-year warranty. Furthermore, since a few moving parts go into the production of electric cars, the maintenance cost is significantly low. Compared to a vehicle running on petrol or diesel, electric cars have 20 moving parts compared to 2000 of the former.

Tips for creating a sustainable car rental company

While a rental car emits relatively less pollution, it is essential that we implement some techniques to make a sustainable car rental company. Here are some tips you can follow:

Data-driven sustainability:
In today’s world of digitalization, companies, big or small, heavily rely on data for informed decision-making. Organizations aim to cut down on CO2 emission by measuring how much their production of cars and their running and maintenance is polluting the environment. Based on the output, they are switching to electric and battery-powered vehicles.

Adding green-powered vehicles:
More and more organizations like Nissan, Ford, and Tesla are manufacturing electric cars with hydrogen fuel cells to reduce pollution. While electric cars are relatively expensive, the environment-conscious generation will make the changes in favor of green vehicles.

Use of technology:
While there is no doubt that greener vehicles can significantly reduce the overall operational and maintenance cost of car rental companies, did you know technology can also impact efficiency, especially regarding the current rental vehicle lineup? With cloud data, the ability to retrieve information such as wear and tear of the vehicle, and fuel mileage, car rental companies can focus on improving performance.

Savings on material cost:
Did you know the production of tons of paper results in the emission of 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide, severely affecting the environment? Using car rental software that can be accessed from any device, you can effectively take steps for your business to become more sustainable. Not only does it help in becoming more sustainable, but it also helps increase efficiency and transparency across the company.

Using a digital platform:
Car rental companies can use digital platforms that will help them measure and keep records of the CO2 footprints of vehicles. A quarterly or annual report can help monitor the goals and results.

Low carbon innovation:
Low-carbon innovation centers can help car rental companies support contractors in building H2S vehicles. Furthermore, adopting science-based targets can help reach the net zero carbon emission goal. Adopting and implementing zero and low-carbon fuel and power sources can help significantly reduce emissions compared to diesel.

Tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions:

Tracking and keeping a record of Scope 3 greenhouse gas can help reduce the carbon intensity, which is the amount of CO2 required to make one unit of electricity per kilowatt hour. Scope 1 includes emissions from directly owned or controlled vehicles. Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from purchasing electricity, and Scope 3 is the indirect emission included in the company’s value chain.

We hope this blog helps you understand the importance of sustainability for car rental services and would encourage you to follow the tips mentioned above to bring change and initiate efforts toward a greener future.

About Rentall

At RENTALL, one of our core goals as a business is to help the automobile industry become more sustainable. As a result, we are incredibly passionate about creating a platform that delivers the best results possible for any business looking to offer electric vehicle rental.

RENTALL’s electric vehicle rental solution is a cloud-based SaaS platform that automates fleet management.