More and more companies are offering their vehicles in Latin America for leasing with an added sustainability bonus, through the inclusion of hybrid or electric technology in their fleets.
Mobility Portal Latinomérica is carrying out a review of the main companies specialized in the region and those that have reversed their zero or low-emission projects.
Arval
A key player in the energy transition in terms of mobility is the subsidiary of the BNP Paribas group, Arval, which operates in three countries in the region: Chile, Colombia, and Peru.
Also, the company recently announced a strategic alliance with Enel X, with the aim of installing charging terminals in the countries where it is based.
This addition would be available for all its users and included in the rental fee along with vehicle maintenance.
Thus, Latin America will contribute to Enel X’s global goal of reaching 320,000 electric charging stations, fast-charging stations, and points worldwide, along with the development of a smart platform for supplying energy to batteries.
Awto
Awto, currently only present in Brazil and Chile, is a car-sharing system associated with Nissan and aims to have 100% of its fleet hybrid by 2030.
The ecological model chosen by the Awto platform, within the category they named Nightfall, is the Kia Niro hybrid, marking the starting point of the total fleet electrification plan.
E-coche
In Argentina, in 2022, the first national platform for renting electric cars was launched.
The company is currently based in Buenos Aires and its surroundings, but it has plans to expand in the region.
Electric models such as Nissan Leaf and hybrid models like Toyota Prius, Toyota Corolla Cross, and Toyota Corolla Sedan can be rented through its website.
Additionally, it features a sustainable and domestically manufactured addition, Tito, from Coradir, and it is the only service that offers it for leasing.
Europcar
Europcar, originally from France, is the most widespread vehicle rental company throughout Latin America.
It has offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Guatemala.
The ECO Range, as it calls its sustainable mobility line, is currently only available in Chile, where it has charging terminals at its own locations and has more than 50 units located mostly in Santiago de Chile.
Models include Hyundai Ioniq, Nissan Leaf, Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Partner, Peugeot Tepee, Renault Kangoo, Renault Zoe, and the plug-in hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander.
Kinto
Kinto, Toyota‘s venture into car-sharing, has been in Latin America since 2020. It landed in Argentina and Brazil before expanding to other countries such as Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, and Chile.
It also offers services that are divided according to the target audience for its rentals: Kinto Share for personal use for a few days, Kinto One Personal for monthly subscription rentals, and Kinto One Fleet, aimed at businesses.
Being part of Toyota, it has its own vehicles to form its catalog, including hybrid models.
In Colombia, it only offers hybrids: the Corolla, Corolla Cross, Yaris Cross, and the RAV4.
Localiza Rent a Car
The Brazilian company Localiza Rent a Car is one of the largest car rental companies globally.
In Latin America, it has a presence with over 600 agencies spread across seven countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Mexico.
Among the models it offers to its customers, it also includes hybrids and fully electric ones. In Argentina, the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid 1.8 is available.
In its home country, Brazil, it presents the most sustainable car models in its portfolio: the Renault Zoe E-tech and the GM Bolt Premier electric, and the plug-in hybrid Audi A3 Sedan S Line AT Hybrid.
Whilst in Colombia, where it has a fleet of 64 vehicles with sustainable technology, it offers the hybrid models Suzuki Swift and Toyota Corolla Xei 1.8, and the electric Changan E-Star.
In Ecuador, Kia takes the spotlight with its Kia Softonic Hybrid and the electric Kia Soul EV.
In the same vein, in Uruguay, it offers the luxury model BMW IX3 210 KW, which, besides being the only sustainable vehicle in this catalog, operates entirely on electricity.
In Paraguay and Mexico, Localiza only offers vehicles with internal combustion engines.
Mobilize
Mobilize, founded by the Renault Group, the firm has three explicit goals in its mission: to minimize the gap between the value of use and the cost of its vehicles, to ensure the value of its units is maintained over time, and to reduce its carbon footprint to the maximum extent.
This is how Mobilize was born, developing its own 100% electric models and being present in Latin America for 20 years.
In Argentina, it landed in 2023 to supply the mobility platforms Uber and Cabify with a specific model: the Renault Logan Electric.
The reference model in Brazil is the Kwid E-Tech, but in the future, it would gradually introduce the models Megane E-Tech and Kangoo E-tech in the other countries where it also operates, namely Colombia and Mexico.
Muverang
Regarding regional initiatives, in Colombia, there is the company Muverang in the cities of Cali, Medellin, and Bogota.
Muverang has the particularity of having an exclusively electric fleet for all its vehicles.
It consists of a total of 1400 two-seater Zhidou D2S cars, as well as bicycles like the AKT City, A2B Kuo Plus, motorcycles like the Super Soco TC MAX, and the Segway Ninebot KS Max skateboard.
The companies that “reversed” with electric vehicles
The most recent case is that of Hertz, which announced a week ago that it would backtrack on its progress with electric cars after announcing in 2021 a request to Tesla for 100,000 units.
However, according to US media, the rapid depreciation of the models and the high maintenance costs created a situation where this part of the fleet was not profitable for the company.
According to CNN, Hertz would sell a batch of 20,000 cars in the second-hand market initially, which will be replaced by cars with traditional internal combustion engines.
