Green mobility needs collaboration

W HILE many of the conversations around lower-carbon transport have taken place in travel policy, sustainability reports and corporate emissions targets, travellers’ green transitions will be determined by more basic decisions and collaborative guidance from the travel trade and providers. “For the travel industry, this creates both a responsibility and an opportunity. If lower-carbon travel is to become part of everyday behaviour, travellers need more than access to new vehicle technologies. They need to understand the options available, the environmental difference those options can make and whether they are practical for the journey ahead,” said Mary Lekobane Thipe, GM of Sustainability & Safety at Avis Southern Africa. While green cars, such as Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), are still rare in South Africa, specialised vehicle rental companies revealed that more people are looking to lease green vehicles. According to Chris O’Connor, Co-Founder and CEO of Drive Electric, the company rents vehicles to corporate travellers with sustainability requirements, international visitors who have already adopted the EV lifestyle and clients who want to ‘try before they buy’. How green? Green cars are not the silver bullet for sustainable mobility, as considerations such as manufacturing, charging methods and driver behaviour play a big role in optimising carbon emissions. “There is no single definition of a ‘green car’,” said Thipe. “An EV may have zero tailpipe emissions, but its overall environmental impact depends on factors including how the vehicle and battery are manufactured, how the electricity used to charge it is generated, how far it is driven, its mileage, operating conditions, and what happens to the vehicle at the end of its life.” She explained that Avis took these factors from all parts of the vehicle’s lifecycle into consideration when it compiled emissions reports, to be able to offer its clients the most accurate representation of the vehicle’s environmental impact. While these are important considerations, O’Connor revealed that one of the biggest factors impacting an EV’s overall sustainability and efficiency was the driver’s behaviour and choices. “It depends heavily on where and how the client charges the vehicle. To page 8