Mar 29 2008
Enterprise Rent-A-Car designated one of its Dallas/Ft. Worth-area rental locations as its first official "E85/FlexFuel branch" in Texas. The Enterprise branch at the Classic Chevrolet dealership, located at 1101 West Highway 114 in Grapevine, is the newest "E85/FlexFuel branch" announced by the car rental company as part of a nationwide effort to promote the expanded availability and use of new, clean fuels and technologies.
Enterprise joined with General Motors (GM), Classic Chevrolet-Hummer and Clean Fuel Distribution to make the announcement at the new Classic Clean Fuels, where the nation’s first dealership-owned public E85 pumps are now available for consumer use. To mark the occasion, Enterprise fueled its FlexFuel vehicles from Classic Clean Fuels during a GM-sponsored promotion offering E85 for 85.9 cents per gallon. During a press conference following the pump promotion, Enterprise announced its fueling commitment, and GM announced the first E85-capable models from HUMMER, the H2 and H2 SUT, both of which will be 2009 models.
Approximately 25 percent of the vehicles in the Grapevine "E85/FlexFuel branch’s" fleet are GM FlexFuel vehicles that have the ability to run on E85 fuel, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the use of E85 can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 percent.
"An important component of Enterprise’s environmental stewardship program is to embrace new, clean fuels and automotive technologies," said Brent Russell, vice president and general manager for Enterprise in Dallas. "As these technologies and alternative fuels become commercially viable, we’ll continue to support them and work with our partners to educate and encourage our customers to use them."
In order to build consumer awareness and increase the number of cars being fueled with E85, Enterprise is actively deploying the majority of its FlexFuel vehicles near E85 fueling stations. The Grapevine "E85/FlexFuel branch" joins similar Enterprise branches in Washington, D.C.; St. Louis; Charlotte, N.C.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio. The branch will also offer customers educational materials about E85 and provide a map detailing area E85 fueling locations.
The Taylor family of companies, which includes Enterprise, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, owns and operates the world’s largest fleet of FlexFuel vehicles - more than 73,000 cars and trucks that have the ability to run on E85 or gasoline or a combination of the two. The companies also own more than 4,000 gas/electric hybrid vehicles.
"In order to be successful in the future, our businesses need two things - cars and fuel," said Russell. "For us, environmental stewardship is about sustaining our business for the long term by addressing the parts of the world our business touches. Embracing renewable fuel blends like E85 and alternative technologies like FlexFuel is a step in the right direction to reduce vehicle emissions and limit our dependence on fossil fuels."
The Taylor family’s focus on alternative fuels and technologies is just one important part of the industry’s most comprehensive environmental sustainability platform. The other major elements of the company’s stewardship commitment are:
- Customer Carbon Offsets - Enterprise, National and Alamo offer customers the opportunity to benefit the environment by offsetting the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of their rental cars. By opting in to pay $1.25 per rental, customers will fund certified offset projects through TerraPass that work to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. This cost is based on the average CO2 emissions generated by a rental car operating in the fleet. The company’s charitable foundation will match customer contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to $1 million per year.
- The world’s largest fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles - More than 440,000 cars in the combined Enterprise, National and Alamo worldwide fleet average a highway fuel efficiency rating of at least 28 mpg or better, and more than 237,000 average 32 mpg or better. In addition, 264,000 have earned the U.S. EPA’s SmartWay certification mark - a distinction the EPA grants to vehicles that emit relatively low levels of both regulated pollutants and greenhouse gases such as CO2.
- Research - In 2007, the Taylor family gave $25 million to create the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at one of the world’s foremost plant research centers. The institute works to develop acceptable alternatives to finite fossil fuels by finding new ways to create fuel from renewable, reliable plant sources.
- Conservation - The company’s charitable foundation is funding the planting of 50 million trees over the next 50 years at a total cost of $50 million through the 50 Million Tree Pledge, a public/private/non-profit partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service. The trees are being planted on public lands in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
All told, over the past several years the Taylor family and their companies have contributed or pledged more than $120 million to environmental initiatives. For more information about the full environmental platform, visit www.keystogreen.com.