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 ...
Rent a car with 1/2 tank.
They want it returned with 1/2 tank.
That is a real PITA to do that - but I managed (using engineering math and calculations).
LOL...not a single mention of consumer demand for EVs at Hertz. I wonder why that might be.
Exactly right. You’re dashing back to the airport with no time to spare. You stop at a gasoline pump and top off in a couple of minutes, then zoom to the rental return. Drop the keys off and jump onto the bus, watching your watch (or phone clock) all the time.
EVs just do not fit into that picture. Instead of a $10 top-off of the battery, Hertz will charge you $75.
I had to rent a car from Hertz in LA on a business trip a couple of months ago. The cheapest cars on the list were EVs. I hadn’t driven an EV since the GM EV a quarter century ago, so I thought it might be fun to do it again. Then it hit me! I needed to drive for several days through LA heavy traffic, needing AC. There’s no way it would have enough charge to do that. So:
1 Where would I charge it. Would I have to pull over and stop along the side of the clogged Xway just to be able to interrogate the information system to find a charging station?
2 Would the chargers work?
3 How long was the line?
4 What would the cost be if I bought it back discharged?
5 Would the battery go dead while inching along in the traffic jams?
I rented an ICE Buick.
I’ve rented from Hertz twice in the past few months, and both times they tried to beg/bully/cajole me into taking an EV. And both times, I declined, explaining that the last thing I want in a rental car is the inconvenience of recharging it. I’m not a Tesla guy. I don’t know where the chargers are and how to use thing, and I’m not about to waste me time learning all this when you perfectly fine gasoline-powered vehicles that I can refill in 3 minutes.
“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.”
Valid points and good to see them mentioned, but how about the ELEPHANT in the Living Room, which is Customer non-Acceptance. After all, how many businessmen (which is who Hertz mainly rents to) want the drama of trying find charging stations which actually work and won’t get a gun pointed at you?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.