Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of this section of this meeting is to discuss the European Commission's clean corporate vehicles legislative proposal. Members will recall this was brought to the attention of the committee earlier this year. On behalf of the committee, I am delighted to welcome Mr. Peter Boland, CEO of the Car Rental Council of Ireland. The council's members include Avis, Budget, Enterprise Mobility, Europcar, Hertz, Sixt and a number of other car sharing businesses.

I will read some notes on privilege for the purpose of our witness. I remind him of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that he should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of that person or entity. If Mr. Boland's statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, he will be directed to discontinue his remarks and it is imperative that he comply with this direction.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside of the Houses or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I now invite Mr. Boland to make his opening statement on behalf of the Car Rental Council of Ireland.

Mr. Peter Boland:

First, I convey the apologies from my colleagues who could not be here this morning. In the industry we had a very busy bank holiday weekend and they are still following up on that.

I thank the committee for the invitation to meet regarding the European Commission’s clean corporate vehicles legislative proposal. The Car Rental Council is the representative body for the car rental industry in Ireland. Our fleets provide mobility solutions for corporate and Government bodies, tradespeople and delivery services; replacement vehicles in the case of breakdown or accident; in-work fleets; and many other commercial uses. Most significantly, the Irish car rental industry delivers 51% of overseas tourists to regional Ireland, providing economically and socially sustainable business to many areas of Ireland inaccessible to tourists by any other means. It is worth noting that 83% of those tourists collect their rentals at Dublin Airport, a point I will return to later in my statement. Our industry is also driving the car sharing model, with the potential to remove 13% of private cars from our roads.

The members of the Car Rental Council of Ireland are committed to the European Union’s 2035 zero-emission car sales mandate. Indeed, the car rental industry sees fleet electrification as a tourism industry opportunity, given Ireland’s green island image, manageable distances, regional spread of attractions, focus on high-end tourism and our ability to develop positive cross-Border offerings. We are actively engaged with ZEVI, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland on the development of an e-tourism offering. However, the time available in the run-up to the 2035 deadline is essential given the complexities involved, and the outcome is contingent on the implementation of key enabling conditions, including publicly available charging infrastructure nationally, charging infrastructure at Dublin Airport, the total cost of ownership of battery EVs, or battery electric vehicles, BEVs,, and the predictability and stability of their residual value.

As I have mentioned, 83% of tourist rentals originate at Dublin Airport. However, due to grid capacity constraints, our fleet currently has no EV chargers there. When the first chargers do arrive in 2030, they will give us the capacity to process 90 BEVs an hour, just 10% of our hourly requirement during the peak summer months. We are working intensely with the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, on this issue, but it presents a real challenge in terms of the 2035 deadline. We are not alone in this regard, as major airports all over the world are struggling with this issue. Right now, there is intense resistance from tourists to renting BEVs, with utilisation rates in Ireland as low as 24% in 2024, when the break-even utilisation rate for rental cars is 80%. Again, this is not unique to Ireland. In Norway, where virtually all new car sales are now BEVs due to massive state supports, rental companies are still forced to buy internal combustion cars to facilitate the demands of overseas tourists. Having said all of that, the car rental industry is working intensively with ZEVI, the Department of Transport, the DAA and other relevant agencies on the practicalities around the 2035 deadline.

This gets us to the European Commission’s clean corporate vehicles, CCV, legislative proposal, part of the Commission’s automotive package published in December of last year with the objective of supporting the automotive sector’s efforts in the transition to clean mobility. The CCV legislation seeks to accelerate the roll-out of BEVs into the corporate fleet from 2030, with the corporate fleet consisting of car rental, car leasing and true fleets owned and operated by the same company. This draft legislation is predicated on the fact that 60% of new car registrations across Europe are by commercial fleets. However, in Ireland, that percentage is only 33%, so for all the damage the proposed legislation will do to the car rental industry and the broader regional tourism industry, it is not capable of having the impact that is expected from it.

In terms of the specifics of the CCV legislation, it sets a mandated minimum national target for Ireland of 90% zero- and low-emission vehicles to be purchased by large undertakings from 2030. However, with another piece of EU legislation, which entered into force on 1 January of this year, very few vehicle models sold in Europe now meet the low-emissions vehicle criteria. The impact of that is that Ireland’s 90% zero- and low-emissions target is a de facto 90% zero-emissions target from 2030. The legislation endeavours to target only large undertakings, but in mandating the purchase of BEVs by rental and leasing companies, the legislation effectively imposes a mandate on tourists and SMEs using our services. It is also profoundly anti-competitive, saying nothing as it does about car rental or leasing companies not classified as large undertakings. Member states shall only provide corporates with financial support for the purchase of BEVs from 1 January 2028 and those BEVs must be made in the European Union. This is expected to cause issues with overall market supply and pricing for fleets, causing a potential shortage of cars from as early as 2028, as well as potentially impinging on our national competence to set our taxation rules.

With these restrictions, car rental companies will be faced with the option of either buying BEVs they know they will not be able to rent out, or stopping buying new cars altogether and operating using progressively older internal combustion cars until the enabling conditions for a BEV roll-out are in place. Either way, the mandate will mean less availability and higher prices for consumers, extreme financial stress for car rental companies, loss of capacity for Ireland’s regional tourism industry, damage to the nascent car-sharing sector and distraction from action on enabling conditions that will make a positive difference.

Recent written answers from the Minister to various Deputies have noted that the clean corporate vehicles measure remains at proposal stage, with negotiations under way at EU level. As Ireland prepares to assume the EU Presidency in July 2026, it is committed to playing a neutral and constructive role in facilitating dialogue among member states.

While we acknowledge that Ireland must be neutral on this matter during our Presidency, we do not believe that it is acceptable to hold a neutral position prior to 1 July, given the damage that the CCV measure will inflict on our industry and Irish tourism, for no real benefit, if allowed to progress as currently drafted.

Countries with the fastest rate of BEV adoption, such as Norway and Belgium, have focused on the key enabling conditions of charging infrastructure and affordability. None have used BEV purchase mandates. The imposition of mandatory EV purchases would not accelerate essential enabling conditions or increase customer demand. We respectfully ask the committee to recommend to the Minister that Ireland proactively seek to ensure that the upcoming clean corporate vehicles legislation excludes the car rental sector and that Ireland deliver a sustainable car rental EV roll-out by ensuring that key enabling conditions are prioritised ahead of mandates. We hope the committee can help us in getting a meaningful response on this matter from the Department as a matter of urgency. We are happy to take questions.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Mr. Boland for his opening statement. One thing that jumps out at me is that 51% of overseas tourists to regional Ireland use the car rental market and 83% of those renting cars do so at Dublin Airport. I presume Dublin Airport is critical to the members Mr. Boland represents. He indicated that Dublin Airport currently has no operational EV charging capacity for car rental fleets. Is it correct that most of those car rental fleets are based primarily in the airport's car parks, on certain car park levels? Even with the infrastructure planned by 2030, that would only meet 10% of peak summer demand. That goes back to 90 BEVs an hour. Will Mr. Boland elaborate on his understanding, from his engagement with the DAA, ESB Networks and the Government, what is preventing faster deployment at Dublin Airport? Is the airport giving Mr. Boland any further clear timelines or commitments for the roll-out of EV charging capacity at the airport?

Mr. Peter Boland:

In a nutshell, it is down to gird capacity in north Dublin. There are many challenges to the supply of electricity in north Dublin. There are a number of new data centres in the pipeline. Obviously, MetroLink has to be allowed for and there is a considerable amount of new housing going into north Dublin at the moment. All those factors put demands on the grid. As a result, the grid operators are constrained in what they can offer to the DAA. That gets us to where we are at this stage. We are in weekly contact with the DAA on this and running a couple of projects in terms of forecasting where we need to get to as regards power supply. The DAA is being very proactive on this, to be fair, but with the best will in the world, we will not get chargers on the ground until 2030. As the Cathaoirleach pointed out, these will be entirely insufficient to provide the kind of capacity we will ultimately need. We do not have the capacity to see beyond 2030 at this stage. Our big concern with this legislation is that we would effectively be hit with a mandate, because that is what it is in Ireland's case, from 2030 among the fleets and we would have no way to charge those cars. I would expand on that slightly by saying that when it comes to internal combustion engine, ICE, cars, they tend to be returned refuelled to the airport. However, the global experience of markets that are ahead of us is that tourists bring the BEVs back empty. The reason is that on the last day of your holiday, you are in a rush to get to the flight. You might be delayed leaving the hotel, bed and breakfast accommodation or whatever, leaving you a little bit behind schedule. You will definitely not spend 45 minutes recharging your car before you get it to the airport, whereas with a diesel or petrol car it will take about five minutes all told. What is happening globally is that the cars are being returned empty and the tourists will pay whatever surcharge needs to be paid rather than bring them back recharged.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Will Mr. Boland comment briefly on Cork and Shannon airports? I know they are not as important as Dublin Airport to the council's members, but I am sure there is significant business generated at most airports.

Mr. Peter Boland:

There certainly is. We are in regular contact with both airports and they have sufficient for now to keep ahead of the curve from our requirements point of view. We are modelling both of those into the longer term, but we are quite happy with capacity there right now.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Notwithstanding that, is Mr. Boland confident that the 10% target is achievable – 90 BEVs an hour by 2030 - or would he question that as we head into the second half of 2026?

Mr. Peter Boland:

That is the deadline even according to the new draft capital investment programme from the DAA for the period 2027 to 2031. That is what it is scheduled and we have to take it at face value.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Is it Mr. Boland’s assessment that the exclusion of the car rental market is the only viable option or does he believe an amendment to the proposal could make it workable?

Mr. Peter Boland:

Obviously, I cannot second-guess the Commission's view on this. The preference from our perspective is that we would be excluded because we cannot square the circle that the legislation, as currently drafted, puts in place. There are amendments that might help further down the road. In particular, if the targets were to become advisory targets rather than mandatory national targets, it might take some of the pressure off. We are in this process in good faith. We see the opportunity for fleet electrification as a positive opportunity but we are on the interface between policy and implementation. The implementation, in terms of charging infrastructure around the country and Dublin Airport, and the whole issue of residual values and the total cost of ownership of the cars are a big challenge.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I do not know if Mr. Boland said this in the opening statement, so forgive me if he did, but what is the size of the car rental fleet in tens of thousands of vehicles?

Mr. Peter Boland:

It is very seasonal. It varies from approximately 20,000 in the early months every year to about 36,000 during the peak months.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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It fluctuates between 20,000 and 36,000. What percentage of those vehicles are hybrid?

Mr. Peter Boland:

About 5% are hybrid.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Are they self-charging hybrid or plug-in hybrid?

Mr. Peter Boland:

They are a mixture of both.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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How many are fully electric?

Mr. Peter Boland:

Very few. That is based on our experience. We were ahead of the curve.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Is it less than 1%?

Mr. Peter Boland:

I would imagine so at this stage. There is very important context to that. In 2023 and 2024, we were ahead of the national roll-out on battery EVs. To put it colloquially, the members lost their shirts on those battery EVs. As I mentioned in the opening statement, the utilisation rate – essentially the percentage of time those cars were on the road – dipped as low as 24% in 2024, whereas vehicles have to be on the road 80% of the time to break even. It was a very distressing experiment. We felt we could lead the way on the roll-out of battery EVs. To a certain extent the charging infrastructure but, in particular, the resistance of consumers showed it to be otherwise. That resistance was extraordinary. It was probably characterised by one American tourist, a battery EV owner from California, who told me at Dublin Airport that he did not intend to spend his summer holidays working out of an Excel sheet. That is the way tourists typically view the use of a battery EV for tourism purposes at the moment. There is a good deal more planning involved in contrast to the more spontaneous use of ICE cars. That is a challenge that we have to overcome and it is something for us as an industry to address. It is, however, a matter of fact right now and it explains the very poor performance.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Okay, so the fleet fluctuates between 20,000 and 36,000, and less than 5% are hybrids.

Mr. Peter Boland:

Yes.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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That is the percentage that are either plug-in hybrid or self-charging hybrid-----

Mr. Peter Boland:

Correct.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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-----and less than 1% are fully electric.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Boland for coming in. The Chair has touched on a lot of the questions I wanted to ask. May I ask about the cost of ownership for car rental companies, specifically for EVs? I have two parts to this question. First, what is that overall total cost of ownership? Then I ask Mr. Boland to talk to me about the residual value of an EV, that is, about depreciation of the asset and so on. How does that change over time?

Mr. Peter Boland:

I thank the Deputy for the question. Essentially, from a car rental point of view, the total cost of ownership for a car rental company is somewhat different from the total cost of ownership for a private customer. The big difference is that fuel is not included in the total cost of ownership for a rental company because that is paid for by the user of the car when they take it away from the depot. The overall cost in 2024, which is the last year for which we have comparatives, was 33% higher on like-for-like cars. That was a combination of the higher purchase price of the car and, somewhat surprisingly, the cost of maintenance and care. Obviously, one of the selling points of BEVs is the lower maintenance cost, but that is complicated right now by the lack of availability of qualified mechanics, so the downtime on a battery EV is considerably higher than the downtime on an internal combustion car where there is a maintenance or repair issue. In addition, insurance is higher. Then, as the Deputy has alluded to, the whole residual value issue is a very big one for us. In our experience, the residual value of battery EVs is considerably lower than that of the equivalent internal combustion cars. That is reflected in the most recent coverage of the second-hand market, which suggests that battery EVs are cheaper second-hand than their equivalent diesels. That is terrific for the second-hand market but it means very low residual values for anyone selling a battery EV.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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What is the difference, would Mr. Boland say, between second-hand EV and second-hand petrol or diesel in terms of that-----

Mr. Peter Boland:

For us, in 2024, it reflected that 33% that I-----

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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That follows through even on residual-----

Mr. Peter Boland:

It is quite a considerable gap. It is a concern of ours as well that if we are mandated to buy a very considerable number of EVs, we turn them over much more quickly than the market. The average age of our cars is 24 months, compared with the average age of the Irish national fleet, at ten years. We are putting them very quickly back into the second-hand market. Very large numbers of second-hand cars moving quickly into the market have the potential to collapse the market, and we see the early stages of that in some other member states where there are very large numbers of corporate cars making their way into the second-hand market. A very good example of that is Belgium, where the incentives have changed in recent years to the point where it makes absolute sense to buy battery EVs into the fleets, but there is no available market for those cars in the second-hand market. There is therefore a very significant concern over this year and next year that all those cars moving their way into the second-hand market will cause considerable difficulties.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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To tease that out, when I hear that I hear that the price of the second-hand cars has come down to that residual stability collapse Mr. Boland referred to. Is that what he means?

Mr. Peter Boland:

Correct, and if that residual value collapses, that obviously has a knock-on effect on the fleets. We need - and I mentioned this in my presentation - certainty and clarity. For a car we buy now, we need to be able to more or less guarantee what the residual value of that car will be in two years' time because everything we charge in the meantime depends on that residual value. That is simply not possible with battery EVs at the moment, and our view is that the mandate would exacerbate that situation.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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Chair, may I have your indulgence for two more brief questions?

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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There is no rush.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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To go back to the 24-month point report, is that work-through time for cars in the fleet consistent or is there variation between EVs and non-EVs in that 24-month figure? Is it the same for both?

Mr. Peter Boland:

That is consistent. I have to say that if we had more EVs in the market, and given their low utilisation, we would have to hold on to them for longer just to get a return out of them.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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How much longer, does Mr. Boland think?

Mr. Peter Boland:

I could not even hazard a guess on that because we have not had that experience yet.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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May I turn then to the examples Mr. Boland cited of Norway and some of the Nordic countries where they have gone for the infrastructure? Have there been any mandatory requirements there or has the transformation there happened organically?

Mr. Peter Boland:

That is the key point. All of that growth has been incentivised primarily through massive state investment in very many aspects of the ownership of a battery EV. It has made it a very comfortable thing to do in Norway and it is the norm in Norway now. There never was a mandate, and no mandate is proposed. Probably the best example of where a mandate has been put in place is in France, where a form of mandate has been put in place on corporate fleets. What they have found in France in the past 12 months is that corporate EV purchases are now falling behind the rate of growth of the private market in France. When you put a mandate in, it tends to complicate the market in a way which does not make the purchase of EVs as viable.

What we see in Ireland, it has to be said, is terrific growth on the private side, which accounts for 66% of the total market. April sales were up over 100% for battery EVs; year to date they are up approximately 50%. The bulk part of the market in Ireland, therefore, is doing extremely well. Putting a mandate on the smaller part of the market risks upsetting that because suddenly you are dragging cars from the part of the market that is growing particularly well under its own steam, with decent incentives to a certain extent and organically, and pulling them into a part of the market which simply cannot take them yet because the enabling conditions are not there.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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Is that why Mr. Boland would say that the same conditions he has seen in Belgium have not happened in Norway? I imagine that if there has been a transformation to the fleet in Norway, there would still be a work-through of second-hand cars into the private market in Norway as well, right?

Mr. Peter Boland:

Yes, but it has been allowed happen organically since 2015, which I think is when they embarked on this policy.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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The rate is slower then, is it, than it would be in Belgium?

Mr. Peter Boland:

The rate has been slower over a longer period, but that has allowed the market to adjust. Putting in a mandate forces cars into the second-hand market, and that creates a very different kind of environment.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Did the scope of the state support provided for in Norway extend to direct supports for the car rental companies as well?

Mr. Peter Boland:

In Norway, absolutely, they qualified for certain of the supports in the same way private users did.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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What type of support was that? In the context of the purchase price of the car, notwithstanding support for infrastructure, was there a direct support in terms of a discounted-----

Mr. Peter Boland:

Initially, there were supports for the purchase price. I think they have been wound down at this stage. There were also supports in terms of things like the use of toll roads, bridges, parking and a whole range of other options. It is interesting to note that the per capita support for the purchase of EVs in Norway at its peak was over €800 and the current per capita support in Ireland is approximately €40. It was massive and is now tailing off.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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I am just looking at what Mr. Boland said in his opening statement. I would imagine that if I were going to hire an EV while overseas or going anywhere, the first thing I would check is the availability of public charging points around the country. Does Mr. Boland see that the really bad lack of availability of public charging points around the country, particularly in tourist spots, is having an effect? I live in Sligo, and in all our major hotspots there are no charging points. Mr. Boland said that most of the tourism is coming from Dublin. It is not even that. It is that when you arrive at your destination, if there is nowhere to charge your car, it would have stopped you from hiring an EV, I would imagine. Then it will affect the residual value of the car, so the car rental sector may be sitting on cars that are not being used. When the sector is advertising, when people come to rent cars from firms, is that one of the first considerations that tourists will say to them? A lot of them probably would have done the research themselves, but is that affecting the sector in a big way?

Mr. Peter Boland:

Yes, absolutely, and I thank the Senator for the question. It has to be noted that tourists do not have driveways-----

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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Exactly.

Mr. Peter Boland:

-----so we are entirely reliant on publicly available charging infrastructure. I would split the issues into two: first, there is the availability and, second, there is the reliability.

In terms of availability, a recent report from UCC that was published in The Irish Timesshowed that, other than Malta, Ireland has the lowest level of publicly available infrastructure in the EU. We deal very regularly with ZEVI on this. I have great faith in what ZEVI will eventually achieve. It has put an enormous amount of effort into the planning and the roll-out of this. It is very user-need based. We would be confident that, ultimately, we will get there in terms of the publicly available charging infrastructure. There are two elements to that. The first is en route - we will see a significant improvement in motorways this year. It is the same on primary roads. Destinations may take longer. Research we carried out last year showed that of all of the key tourism destinations in the country, only 20% had any charging infrastructure.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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That is bizarre.

Mr. Peter Boland:

We have quite the way to go there. The second issue I mentioned is reliability. We have heard of many anecdotal cases where people have got stranded because fast chargers, which tourists typically need, are not operating.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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It makes sense that until that public infrastructure is rolled out, this is going to affect the Car Rental Council of Ireland in a big way.

Mr. Peter Boland:

It regularly does. We have cases of customers who booked EVs changing their mind at the desk in Dublin Airport because they have read in the meantime about the lack of charging infrastructure.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for bringing this to our attention today. I want to ask them what this proposal, if it goes ahead as is, will look like. Is Mr. Boland essentially looking at retaining the older diesel vehicles, or will the industry be forced to buy unsuitable electric vehicles? Second to that, what would Mr. Boland like to see? Obviously, the game plan here is to have clean vehicles and we want to get there as quickly as possible. What are the steps we need to take to get there, working collaboratively?

Mr. Peter Boland:

I thank the Deputy for the question. First, in terms of the timeline on this, if the legislation is passed as it stands, there is a real risk that from January 2028, because of changes in the rules on financial incentives, we will be faced with a situation where we either buy battery EVs that we know we cannot rent out yet, or we hold on to the cars that we currently have, which are, by and large, internal combustion cars. I need to be careful in terms of competition law and supply issues, but it would not take a rocket scientist to figure out what is going to happen there. The real risk is that we end up with an increasingly older fleet of older internal combustion cars while we are waiting for the enabling conditions to be put in place. This would be from 2028 onward. If that happens, the big impact that would be publicly visible is a reduction in tourist numbers to regional Ireland. Because of the interdependency of car rental and regional tourism, it means that by the summer of 2028, we will be looking at reduced capacity getting to the areas of Ireland outside Dublin. That would be exacerbated in 2030 when the full national mandate comes into place - it is a mandate because it is set at 90% - because it will make the situation even more difficult. We are absolutely not confident that the enabling conditions will be in place.

That takes me to the second part of the Deputy's question on what needs to be done. We know that nationally the charging infrastructure is being rolled out. We would certainly hope that by 2030, what is available en route for tourists would be sufficient. We certainly have serious concerns about Dublin Airport and our ability to operate at Dublin Airport. Likewise, in terms of the second-hand market and the residual value of the cars, there may come a point, albeit temporary, where the Government has to consider support for the second-hand car market in Ireland, which would be unprecedented, in order to facilitate the rapid roll-out of second-hand EVs.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Mr. Boland for that. From his knowledge of the tourism sector, are we seeing hotels and self-catering accommodation putting in place charging infrastructure?

Mr. Peter Boland:

We are, yes. This is a point that ZEVI has been very big on. We are a member of the Irish Tourism Industry Council, ITIC. Through ITIC, ZEVI has met us and the rest of the industry and has pushed the whole issue of destination charging for hotels and other accommodation. That is something that is live at the moment. There is a difference and it is a worthwhile insight to make. There was an early expectation that hotels would need fast chargers. From our experience in other markets, it is fairly clear that hotels can get away with much slower charging because it is typically overnight, whereas if you are on a motorway, you need 150 KW charger to get a quick turnaround. You do not need that level of charging at a hotel. It does not put the same pressure on the grid. You can get away with a 22 KW in most scenarios in a hotel or maybe a mixture of faster and slower. It is not as onerous and does not put the same kind of pressure on the grid. Many progressive hotels are well aware of that and are acting on it now.

Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for coming in today. Reflecting on my notes, we are very conscious in this committee of the importance of the car rental market to regional tourism and connectivity across Ireland, particularly in areas where public transport alternatives remain limited. The committee notes the industry's stated commitment to the 2025 zero emission transition. It further notes the engagement that is ongoing with ZEVI, the Department, Fáilte Ireland and in particular the DAA. However, the evidence we have heard today raises significant concerns around charging infrastructure capacity, particularly at Dublin Airport. I also note the unintended consequences of the proposed clean corporate vehicle regulation.

What is clear from Mr. Boland’s evidence is that this is not an argument against decarbonisation or electric vehicle adoption, but it is about sequencing, infrastructure readiness and economic practicality.  I take on board the point he makes in the context of our fleet here and how it differs from the wider European market on which the proposal seems to be based.  We will have a chat as a committee.  I propose that the committee will write to the Minister in this regard, reflecting on the evidence here today and along the four points I have just raised that this would be an action of the committee.  I think that is already agreed.  I thank Mr. Boland for his evidence here today. I also thank Senator Cosgrove, Deputy Moynihan as Vice-Chair of the committee and Deputy Boland, who is online.  Deputy Cosgrove is in two places – she is online and she is here presently.  That is the great Senator for you.  I bring today's meeting to conclusion.