In addition to having the youngest fleet in the industry, KEA also has the most environmentally-friendly vehicles. Every vehicle features solar paneling, renewable materials, the most advanced emission control standards, best-practice waste management systems and the lowest fuel consumption rates of any campervan rental company across Australia, New Zealand and Southern Africa.
In New Zealand, KEA is also Green Globe benchmarked as well as being the first campervan and motorhome company to have vehicles certified self-contained through the New Zealand Motorhome and Caravan Association (NZMCA). In addition, KEA has achieved Qualmark Enviro-Gold accreditation. In Australia, KEA is the only campervan rental company to have achieved the Leave No Trace certification of the Campervan Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA).
Global warming and environmentally friendly technology are now currently the buzz words floating around in all facets of the motor vehicle industry. With constant fuel hikes due to rocketing oil prices, manufactures are scrambling to achieve greater fuel efficient cars to lower running costs, while leaving less of an ecological footprint than their gas guzzling predecessor’s. Hybrid vehicles, electric and bio gas are coming into their own, and advancements in these new forms of transport are literally been made daily. More and more large car manufactures’ are leaning towards environmentally friendly, fuel efficient cars. Volkswagen plans to expand its fleet of electric drive vehicles by 2013. These modern electric cars are capable of short ranges of up to 150 kilometres
Many car rentals are joining the fight against global warming and are dedicated to embracing new environmentally friendly technology to raise “green” awareness". Eco-fuels or replacements fuels have come under fire from some sectors of government, as they perceive cash strapped farmers moving away from maize production for staple foods and a shifting towards eco-methanol rich cash crops. Agricultural role players have hit back saying while the maize production is the staple for many South Africans, the land been not used at present, could easy pave the way to a better and cheaper fuel source for all. This would really help those farmers who have had set backs from unusual weather patterns and crop failures.
While South Africa is lagging behind such innovations as Toyota’s hybrid being used as London’s new eco-friendly taxi service or “Go Green” the UK's first environmentally friendly car rental company, there are ways to improve our local fuel consumption. Choose fuel-efficient cars or hybrid cars and avoid aggressive driving while be sure to follow the speed limit. Listen to traffic reports to avoid traffic jams as "Stop and start" driving is far more fuel consuming. The next best thing we could hope for in South Africa are electric mini bus taxies, that would follow tracks in the road like trams, thus alleviating pollution, road congestion and of course peace of mind for the rest of us the road users
The launch of Street View (Google Maps) for South Africa in the coming weeks, we will get see, Google, and Toyota teamed up and using the Toyota Prius, the fuel efficient and environmental friendly models will begin driving around South Africa and taking photographs of locations, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Durban.
