Rental companies collectively own fewer cars than a year earlier. The number of electric cars in rental fleets did, however, grow significantly.
Figures from Bovag and RDC show that in 2020 the number of rental cars dropped by a sixth. With 26,414 passenger cars at rental companies, the number is 16 percent lower than in 2019. According to Bovag, the decrease is a result of the corona crisis. The number of rental vans also fell, but less rapidly. That went down by 8 percent to 11,360.
Against the decline in the total number, the number of electric cars for rental grew. Rental companies purchased a total of 1,287 electric cars and now 7 percent of passenger cars at rental companies are fully electric. In 2019 this was still 4.4 percent. Hybrid cars now make up more than 10 percent of the supply. The number of diesel cars has halved in the past six months, which is now just over 3,000, roughly 11 percent.
Bovag also provides insight into which electric cars are most popular with rental companies. In first place is the Nissan Leaf, with a total of 282 units intended for rental. The Volkswagen e-Golf follows with 265 units. The BMW i3 (214), Smart ForTwo (179) and Skoda Citigo (158) complete the top 5.