Climate Action

The car rental fleet has the lowest emission non-EV cars in the national fleet because it uses newer, more efficient cars. The average age of rental cars is 16 months¹, compared to nearly 9.6 years for the total fleet.² This also means that as car rental companies sell off cars at the end of the tourist season, they are adding newer, more efficient cars to the second-hand car market in Ireland.

Plug-in EVs account for up to 7.4% of the car rental fleet³, compared to 5.0% of the national fleet⁴.

When sufficient publicly available charging infrastructure is in place and the cost of EVs makes renting them accessible to consumers, the members of the Car Rental Council of Ireland are ready to respond with the rollout of the EV rental fleet.

1. CRCI member consolidated data August 2024
2. SIMI April 2025  https://www.simi.ie/en/environment/drive-greener/national-vehicle-fleet
3.  CRCI member consolidated data December 2024
4.  SIMI April 2025