The $100bn industry that's poised to take an electric leap of faith
来源:World Economic Forum;发表于:2022-03-24;人气指数:389
The
$100bn industry that's poised to take an electric leap of faith
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/03/rental-car-electric-vehicles-asia-pandemic/
More companies are
outsourcing electric vehicles.
Image: Maxim
Hopman/Unsplash
15 Mar 2022
Tina Bellon
Journalist, Reuters
*The transition of
the Western rental car industry to electric vehicles could see car fleets
increasingly switch from European and American to Asian automakers.
*Global automakers'
transition plans as a whole would see electric vehicles make up at least 40% of
their sales by 2040.
*Great Wall Motor,
one of Europcar's suppliers, is expected to launch its Ora Cat compact electric
car in Europe this year priced at around 20,000 euros.
The $100 billion
Western rental car industry, flush with cash from a profitable pandemic, is
gradually getting its electric show on the road, and Chinese-made vehicles are
poised to play a starring role.
The electric
transition could see car fleets, long dominated by famed marques from the
United States and Europe, increasingly switch towards Asian automakers,
according to a European executive.
"Historically,
European and American manufacturers had an edge, but the shift towards electric
is reshuffling the cards," said Olivier Baldassari, group chief countries
and operations officer at rental giant Europcar.
He said electric cars
from Chinese and Asian makers were comparable to Western models in terms of
quality, citing Great Wall Motor's Ora line, but generally cost less.
Even small savings
are significant in the vast rental industry, which buys millions of new cars a
year - a tenth of all new cars in the United States alone - and provides a
leading indicator of wider auto trends in society.
Companies in the
sector have long resisted a rush to electrify because of weak demand for electric
vehicles (EVs) among customers worried about being stranded out of power.
Yet several analysts
said now is the best time to start as companies have fortified their coffers
with bumper profits during a pandemic that emptied public transit and airports,
and led to more holidaying within driving distance.
In the United States,
rental car companies received record monthly revenue of $1,320 per vehicle in
2021, according to Auto Rental News. That compares to around $1,000
pre-pandemic.
"In the past,
companies have kind of stuck their head in the sand," said Nick
Mountfield, associate partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants, which advises
rental car companies, said about electrification. "We're now starting to
see people say that they'll have to do something about and put in place
plans."
U.S. rental car
companies had to sell of stock during the pandemic.
Image: Auto Rental
News
U.S. rental car
companies' revenue streams approach pre-pandemic levels
Image: Auto Rental
News
WATCH YOUR SPEED
Hertz was an early
mover last October when it announced the planned purchase of 100,000 vehicles
from U.S. trailblazer Tesla, upping the pressure on rivals to spell out
transition plans.
French-based
Europcar, meanwhile, pledged to make 20% of its fleet electric or low-emission
hybrid by 2024, from 3% now, which means it will need to buy up to 70,000
cleaner vehicles in the coming two years if it restocks its fleet to the
350,000 vehicles it owned pre-pandemic.
Electric car.
Image: Enterprise
Holdings/Handout via REUTERS
Rental companies sold
off their fleets as demand plummeted at the start of the pandemic and have
struggled to regain volumes amid a global shortage of semiconductors that has
hampered vehicle production.
Baldassari said
Europcar was increasingly sourcing EVs from Great Wall Motors, SAIC Motor and
Polestar, which is owned by China's Geely and Volvo Cars, though it was also
buying from traditional partners, including Renault and Stellantis.
The company's China
strategy might shift, however, if German carmaker Volkswagen AG manages to
close its offer to buy the company in the second quarter.
Industry players are
running at different speeds, with each making their own calculations based on
their markets.
In the United States,
where many customers prefer SUV and pickup models that have yet to be
electrified and public charging infrastructure lags much of Asia and Europe,
Enterprise Holdings is striking a more cautious tone.
Electrifying just a
quarter of Enterprise's fleet at Orlando airport - its largest consumer rental
location - would require the same amount of daily electricity as is needed to
power more than 1,000 homes, said Enterprise's assistant vice president of innovation,
Chris Haffenreffer.
Haffenreffer said the
group currently had several thousand EVs in North America, including from
Tesla, Nissan , Hyundai, Kia and Polestar. While the company said it has
conversations with all global automakers, it has no immediate plans to boost
that share.
"At a high
level, we want to let our consumers guide us in terms of what they're looking
for," he added. "Many car rental companies have historically taken
that wait-and-see approach because we are still in the early phases of the
transition."
At around 730,000,
U.S. rental car industry vehicle purchases in 2021 were at decade-low.
Image: Auto Rental
News
FOOTHOLD IN THE WEST
The varied pace of
change, and the timeline for vast fleet overhauls means gasoline-powered
vehicles are expected to remain the bulk of purchases for some years to come.
Global automakers' transition plans as a whole would see electric vehicles make
up at least 40% of their sales by 2040.
Yet eventually the
shift could prove far-reaching for the fortunes of Chinese in carmakers in
Europe, a crowded, competitive auto market dominated by storied brands that has
proved elusive for them to crack in the past.
In years gone by,
they have contended with a perception that China, associated with cheap
mass-production, could not compete on quality. Yet such arguments are
challenged in a new reality that sees top Western carmakers like BMW and Tesla
now produce cars in the country, which is a technology powerhouse and the
world's biggest auto market.
Great Wall Motor, one
of Europcar's suppliers, is expected to launch its Ora Cat compact electric car
in Europe this year priced at around 20,000 euros ($22,260) with a range of
around 250 miles (400 km), joining a growing number of Chinese EV makers trying
their luck on the continent.
Chinese manufacturers
using the rental channel to establish brand awareness and increase sales
volumes would follow a playbook Kia and Hyundai used in the 1990s to gain a
foothold in Western markets, said Mountfield at OC&C Strategy.