Posted on 12/05/2023 1:45:10 PM PST by chuckee
Hertz is slowing down plans to include more electric cars in its fleet. The firm said EVs have higher repair costs and have depreciated significantly. Hertz said it would buy 100,000 Teslas in 2021.
Embracing electric cars is proving much more complicated than Hertz anticipated.
The car-rental giant is hitting the brakes on a wide-ranging plan to integrate more electric vehicles into its fleet as it runs into challenges, such as high repair costs and depreciation. Hertz isn't giving up on EVs entirely, but it's starting to take a more measured approach.
"Our in-fleeting of EVs will be slower than our prior expectations," Stephen Scherr, the CEO of Hertz, said during the company's third-quarter earnings call on Thursday. "We know the challenges at hand and are working to remedy that, which we can."
Hertz had initially aimed to make 25% of its fleet electric by the end of 2024. Now it's dropping that goal. Today, about 11% of Hertz's cars are electric, and about 80% of those are Tesla models.
In 2021, Hertz started going all in on EVs, announcing a plan to buy 100,000 Teslas as part of an effort to give customers electric options. It has also inked deals with General Motors to buy 175,000 vehicles, with the EV brand Polestar to buy 65,000 vehicles, and with Uber to make EVs available to drivers. But things haven't been easy...
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
In the old days hertz used to have rental Shelby GT 350 mustangs.
Oversized electric golf cart fanbois hardest hit.
How will they virtue signal to other liberals?
We bought a 2018 Nissan Murano with 43,000 miles from Hertz in 2019. Other than replacing the battery 2 yrs ago, that car has been a dream. We didn’t have to haggle over price in the sales office, which was such a relief.
Not when I rented them from Hertz.
Govt dreams meet reality.
“Our in-fleeting of EVs will be slower than our prior expectations,” Stephen Scherr, the CEO of Hertz, said..”
This drip should be “out fleeted”.
EVs are ok if you only use them to run around town and you own a single-family home with your own charger so you can charge them every night. Otherwise, not so much.
I recently went on a trip with the Mrs to Nashville & surrounding areas. Rented a “Mystery” car from Avis, because it was the cheapest option. The agent said, “Looks like your mystery car is… a Honda EV!” Within 1 second I told him nope, and get me another car. No way was I going to be stuck with that horse crap.
Buying used sedans from car rental companies is usually ok, but never buy any sort of sports car from a car rental company. They are the most abused cars you will ever find. Nearly everyone who ever rented it tried to drive it like a race car.
oh sh!t... good question
EVs ARE CRAP!
Eventually, there will be ten billion Tesla EVs produced.
management had to be extremely stupid to be SURPRISED by the MUCH greater repair costs, MUCH greater depreciation, and the MUCH greater damage rate to EVs than ICE cars ... btw, the article doesn’t mention how in hades Hertz manages to convince customers to rent EVs in the first place ... my guess is that it goes something like this: “Sorry, we’re all out of ICE cars and all that’s left to rent are EVs.” ...
LOL!
yeah, a business trip in a rental EV would be the ultimate in range anxiety ...
yeah, the article doesn’t mention how in hades Hertz manages to convince customers to rent EVs in the first place ... my guess is that it goes something like this: “Sorry, we’re all out of ICE cars and all that’s left to rent are EVs.” ...
“And we weren’t going to get up hours early to top off batteries somewhere near the airport for turning it in fully charged.”
so, apparently that answers the question: do the EVs have to be returned fully charged ... easy enough to spend 5 minutes topping off an ICE car in a service station near the airport ... NOT so easy to spend time hunting down an EV charger and cooling your heels for an hour or longer while the battery charges ... that alone would be a deal killer for most business travelers ...
“EVs are ok if you only use them to run around town and you own a single-family home with your own charger so you can charge them every night”
AND you don’t have to drive in extreme climates of freezing winter and scorching summer ... around this part of colorado, EVs hibernate during the 4-5 month winter and take 4-month siestas in the summer ...
My wife and I took an uber that was electric. She became motion sick after our 1 hour drive.
This is not mentioned often but its definitely a problem for many. We will never rent one.
The proverbial rubber is hitting the road...or not...
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