Hertz chief demands government plan for rental fleet transition

Sigurður Berndsen, chief executive of Hertz Iceland, says the government must explain what plan it has followed for the energy transition of rental cars before accusing rental companies of falling far behind schedule, mbl.is reported.

Berndsen made the comments in a statement sent to mbl.is on Tuesday afternoon and also published on his Facebook page. He was responding to remarks by Environment, Energy and Climate Minister Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, who said earlier in the day that rental cars were “far, far behind schedule” in the energy transition.

“Before the minister accuses rental companies of being far behind schedule, he needs to answer one fundamental question: Where is the government’s own plan?” Berndsen said.

Berndsen also questioned the minister’s comments about financial support for rental companies. He said rental companies had not received 10 billion Icelandic krónur from the state treasury for unrestricted use.

The minister should provide a detailed breakdown of what he considers direct grants, general tax incentives for electric car purchases and temporary waivers of public charges, Berndsen said.

He said rental companies were not opposed to the energy transition and had been calling for a realistic and targeted path towards it for years. In his view, the government had set ambitious targets without doing the basic work needed to achieve them.

There are about 30,000 rental cars in Iceland, Berndsen said, and they travel between 750 million and 900 million kilometres each year. If the entire fleet were electrified, the electricity demand for driving could amount to about 170 to 300 gigawatt-hours annually, he estimated.

The greater challenge, he said, was where and when the electricity would be needed. A large share of tourists’ driving takes place during a relatively short peak season, potentially placing heavy pressure on charging infrastructure in particular locations.

Berndsen asked whether the government had assessed how many charging stations would be needed at popular tourist destinations and whether local distribution networks could handle the load when a large share of rental cars became electric.

“I have not seen the government provide answers to these questions,” he said.