Posted on 10/25/2021 1:17:14 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Hertz, the car rental agency, said Monday that it had placed an order for 100,000 Teslas, a sign of growing momentum in the shift to electric vehicles.
By the end of next year, when the Tesla order is completed, electric vehicles will make up more than 20% of Hertz’s global vehicle fleet, the company said.
Hertz said it was teaming with NFL quarterback Tom Brady to promote its EV offerings in a marketing campaign.
“Electric vehicles are now mainstream, and we’ve only just begun to see rising global demand and interest,” Mark Fields, Hertz’s interim chief executive, said in a news release. “The new Hertz is going to lead the way as a mobility company, starting with the largest EV rental fleet in North America and a commitment to grow our EV fleet and provide the best rental and recharging experience for leisure and business customers around the world.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I would not rent one. I would have no idea how/where to recharge it to avoid getting stuck.
Until the chargers are ubiquitous, Hertz is smoking hashish.
I might, just to experience what they're like.
How many of these will have to be towed when inexperienced drivers dont plan for where they can plug them in?
What sort of real range do they have?
How long does it take to charge at home?
How long does it take to charge at a commercial site?
>>> There were no gas stations when gas powered cars came out. <<<
EV charging stations will have to be gigantic. It takes less than 4 minutes to refuel gas vehicles. So gas stations have 10-18 ports. EVs take 4 hours (best case) to charge. EV charging stations along the interstates will require thousands of ports to accommodate demand. How do operators make money? Government subsidies for EVs and EV charging stations? What happens when we run out of other peoples money?
So EVs might work for short local driving. Like golf carts at The Villages.
“So EVs might work for short local driving. Like golf carts at The Villages.”
The new GM Silverado EV has a 400 mile range.
Tesla is working on charging stations that charge in less than one hour.
Tesla also has patents on charging stations at restaurants, malls, places of work etc
The aftermarket will provide just like it did for gas powered vehicles.
Horse owners in 1905:
“How many of these will have to be towed when inexperienced drivers dont plan for where they can get gas?”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4764208/Child-miners-aged-four-living-hell-Earth.html
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lithium-batteries-environment-impact
There were no gas stations when gas powered cars came out.
You bought gasoline at the hardware store...or you brought your own.
>>> Horse owners in 1905: <<<
The federal government didn’t shoot all the horses in 1895.
>>> Tesla also has patents on charging stations at restaurants, malls, places of work etc <<<
Ask a Tesla owner about those “free” charging stations at Target, Kohls, etc.
Listen, when I first heard of electric cars I was all in. But I dug into the details and the business model simply falls apart. Go to any EV brand website and look at the charging options. Then talk to an electrician. You will be enlightened.
If I recall, Honda doesn’t sell to rental car companies because it makes them ‘fleet vehicles’ and devalues their resale value...something about them being abused and then going into the used car market, devaluing them all.
I can’t imagine Tesla customers will be happy if this happens.
Is this all because some liberals like EV's? So conservatives feel they have to be knee-jerk and automatically hate them?
I say let the people have their Tesla option when they rent a car. Usually when I rent a car, I'm on business and only driving from the airport to my hotel, then to the office I'm visiting and back again. Maybe I'll stop at local restaurants in the area. Then it's back to the airport to return the rental.
So basically 30-40 miles a day tops when I'm renting a car on business. That is the MAJORITY of car rentals by the way. Your typical car rental does not involve the renter driving hundreds of miles every day. In that minority of cases, the renter would likely choose a gas powered car. But most businessmen will happily choose the Tesla just about every single time. They can plug the car in at the hotel parking lot and have a full charge each morning.
So Hertz is actually making a very smart move here. And I'm sure Tesla is giving Hertz a terrific deal on these 100,000 cars. That's because affluent businessmen will be exposed to Tesla for the first time causing many of them to want to buy a Tesla for themselves when they get home. So Tesla will also come out a big winner.
On a smaller scale, this is how Siriux/XM satellite radio got such a huge subscriber base. Many people's first experience with satellite radio was in aa rental car. Such as myself. I was on business in Atlanta back in the early 2000s and my rental car had Sirius radio (before the merger with XM). I was hooked. Commercial free radio in just about any genre of music? When I got home, I immediately rigged one up in my own car.
Anyway, my prediction is that this will be a huge success.
OR turn one episode into a classic horror movie where the Tesla-stranded vacationers stumble about until they end up at a Texas Chainsaw Massacre house, a Motel Hell dwelling, or a Blair Witch Project woods ... or heck, even a Psycho remake ...
I’m agnostic on Hertz, Tesla and EVs in general. But looking at the business model from end to end on rental EVs or sales otherwise, there are huge gaps. And the gaps cannot be filled by government subsidy.
Two critical business model inputs are lithium and electricity. Both scarce and challenging.
I agree. Hertz will be buying the lower end Tesla Model 3 with lithium-iron-phosphate batteries; they will last a very long time despite repeated recharging, and Hertz will have resold them before their use is up. Hertz is about a $13 billion cap company, and they'll probably earn $4 billion or more per year extra just on the 100,000 Tesla rental fleet. That's huge. The purchase will be spread out over a year, and Tesla will have no problem supplying Hertz. But Hertz stock now before it takes off.
In after the usual trolls show up.
You win the thread.
Yeah, just that energy density thing.
And the price.
And the price to buy/replace the battery.
And the complete dependence on the electric grid.
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.