Ember.js - ember-pikaday not allowing preset date

I am trying to create a datepicker in ember.js using the ember-pikaday addon. The datepicker should have a date in it when it is displayed. So, I added the following code to my template:

However, even though I specify the value as rental.date, the input is blank. I know that the value of rental.date is not null because when I set the placeholder to rental.date, the placeholder's date is correct.