Building on its long-term environmental heritage, leading car hire company, Avis, has partnered with the Renault-Nissan Alliance to offer electric cars to its customers from 2011.

The partnership will add to Avis’ already well-established environmental programme, which has seen the company maintain a CarbonNeutral® status since 1999.

Pascal Bazin, Chief Executive for Avis Europe, explains: “At Avis, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and are always looking for new ways to improve our environmental performance.

“We are delighted to sign this important partnership with Renault to offer electric vehicles as part of our green fleet, which is an increasingly central part of our customer offering. Despite the impact of the recession, consumers are just as aware of the issues of climate change and it is only by working together with our partners that will we be able to make a difference.

Senior Vice President, Renault Corporate Sales Division, Uwe Hochgeschurtz, adds: “Avis is an important long-term partner for Renault so we are thrilled to be able to expand our offering with the company to include electric vehicles. We are confident that the partnership will play an important role in enabling customers to experience the new technology and learn about the environmental benefits of electric vehicles, which are sure to become a significant alternative for car travel in the future.”

With electric vehicles, which produce zero emissions during use, Renault is preparing a breakthrough solution that provides sustainable mobility for all.

From 2011, Renault will progressively roll out four electric vehicles.

These include two derivatives of internal-combustion vehicles:
* Renault Fluence Z.E., an electric version of Fluence which will initially be available in Israel and Europe. This vehicle will be manufactured at the Bursa factory in Turkey.
* Renault Kangoo Express Z.E., which will be an electric version of Renault Kangoo Express, intended primarily for fleet and business use. This vehicle will be manufactured at the Renault Maubeuge factory in France.

In addition, two vehicles will be available in EV form only. The range of electric vehicles will later be extended to cover other segments, including two new cars whose architecture will be designed to run exclusively with electrical power:

* A car derived from the Twizy Z.E. Concept, a concept car for motoring in built-up areas. This vehicle will be manufactured at the Valladolid factory in Spain.
* The fourth vehicle will take its inspiration from Zoe Z.E. Concept and is scheduled to be released at the beginning of 2012. It will be a particularly versatile vehicle intended for everyday motoring in and around cities. It will be manufactured at the Flins factory in France.

With a long history of environmental awareness, Avis has offset more than 147,000 tonnes of CO2 since 1997 by investing in a host of environmental initiatives such as renewable energy, methane capture projects and tree planting, which mean the company has now been CarbonNeutral® accredited for more than a decade.

Average CO2 emissions have also been successfully reduced year on year through the introduction of further environmentally friendly technologies and practices, including motion detector lights in many of its European offices, an extensive recycling scheme for staff and the development of a Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan to prevent spills from storage and during fuel loading at rental stations across Europe.

Meanwhile, Avis customers can already benefit from an extensive eco-offering. Each car on the Avis fleet is typically only six months old, to ensure maximum fuel efficiency, whilst the average CO2 emissions for cars purchased in 2009 was just 144.6g CO2/Km.

All Avis customers also have access to environmental driving tips to help lower their emissions and can choose a vehicle from a wide ranging green fleet, including hundreds of vehicles which run on fuels other than petrol or diesel. Leisure and business customers also have the option to offset their carbon emissions prior to their journey.