Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., plans to introduce a bill on Tuesday aimed at barring car rental companies from forcing customers to rent electric vehicles without them explicitly requesting one.
The Requiring EV Notification and Transparency Act of 2024 or RENT Act, would require rental companies to only provide customers with electric vehicles if they request them. [emphasis, links added]
It would further dictate that customers have the right to terminate their contract with the companies if they are given an electric vehicle without opting in.
Companies would additionally be barred from charging customers fees for terminating the contract for such reasons.
“Rental car companies should not advance Democrats’ radical climate agenda and make customers rent EVs if they don’t want to. Policies that force EVs on Americans who either don’t want or can’t afford them are unfair, and our legislation will prevent these companies from taking advantage of consumers,” Cotton told Fox News Digital in a statement.
The bill is cosponsored by Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who said in a statement, “Consumers who book a standard gas-powered car should not be forced to rent electric vehicles they don’t want simply because the rental company says so.”
“Ignoring the preferences of consumers to further a climate crusade is wrong and must be stopped,” he added.
Cotton’s new measure comes as President Biden’s administration has made its climate agenda a prominent piece of its legacy.
Last year, the president announced a goal to make 50% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. electric by 2030.
Biden’s White House has also taken steps toward creating a national network of electric vehicle charging stations to help make electric vehicle ownership more practical for Americans.
Electric vehicles and Biden’s implementation have faced criticism, particularly from his conservative counterparts.
The limitations of electric vehicles when it comes to weather and distance have been scrutinized, as has the mining associated with creating so many batteries and electric vehicles at once.
“The last thing Americans want from a rental car company when traveling is an electric vehicle, especially when visiting an unfamiliar area,” said Jason Isaac, the CEO and founder of the American Energy Institute. “Electric vehicles continue to fail, and car manufacturers cannot get them sold off their lots.”
“Reliability is key and electric vehicles are not up to standard,” he added.
Top photo by Upgraded Points on Unsplash
Read rest at Fox Business
It should still be Consumer Freedom/Choice not the Globalists Governments demands
Even if I where an EV enthusiast, which I’m not, I would never rent one to use in location that I wasn’t familiar with. Driving in such as place is stressful enough without worrying about recharging stations. Tom Cotton’s bill is a good idea. Consumers should have freedom of choice, but if passed Biden is guaranteed to veto it.
Leave it to stupid, grandstanding Republicans to ignore the real issue and do exactly what they so often accuse Democrats of doing: interfering in voluntary private transactions between producers and consumers. We don’t need these clowns to protect us from big bad car-rental companies. All customers have to do is make it clear at the outset that they do not want, and will not pay for, EVs. Profit-seeking companies will get the message very quickly. The recent dumping by Hertz of tens of thousands of EVs shows that the days of pushing these contraptions on consumers are drawing to a close. If Republicans had spines, they would instead work tirelessly to oppose all government efforts to force EVs and “green energy” on us through bans and regulations.
Leave it to a left-wing ignoramus for missing the point that Senator Cotton is taking about a transaction that wasn’t voluntary from the consumer’s standpoint. He did not request an EV but the rental company is not allowing the customer from opting out of the contract and getting the vehicle he wants.
Micro-Brains like you who watches way too much Daily Fake News and reads the NYT’s