First Car Rental and EZShuttle have signed an important joint venture agreement that sees First Car Rental’s Direct Transfer service deliver a world class package, providing door-to-door convenience for customers at better rates with a much larger footprint spanning across major cities in South Africa. This agreement also secures the foundation for SMME owner-driver schemes on a national level.

Car hire giant, Europcar, are set to introduce the award-winning Nissan Leaf all electric powered car to their fleets in London and Paris as part of a 3-month trial. If successful, the 0% emissions hire car could be included in its hire fleets in other parts of Europe.

The Nissan Leaf, which was named 2011 World and Europe Car of the Year, is due to be launched by Europcar this month, although an exact launch date is yet to be announced.

While the all-electric powered car is the same as a normal car to drive, the car hire provider will ensure each and every customer is given a full briefing and demonstration by a Europcar employee before getting behind the wheel. Most importantly, the customer will be instructed on how to read the battery gauge accurately to ensure they don’t run out of range during their hire.

The Nissan Leaf has a battery range of 110 miles, and will only be available for daily hire during the 3-month Europcar trial in London and Paris.

One person who will certainly be hoping the new electric hire cars becomes a permanent feature in the Europcar fleet will be London mayor Boris Johnson who is planning to make London the electric car capital of Europe.