Posted on 11/03/2023 7:31:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
American Thinker is fortunate enough to have a number of friends around the world, and one of those friends, an Aussie, sent me a story with this lede from the JoNova blog:
Hertz was aiming to make 25% of its fleet electric by 2024, but is finding 11% is too much. Given there are whole nations pushing for 100% EV by 2035 there seems to be a message here…
The original item came from a car outlet, and reported that Hertz was dialing back on promises the company had made to transition a sizable portion of its rental fleet from gas-powered vehicles to rechargeable ones, citing “higher than expected repair costs and price cuts.” From that article for the backstory:
US-based rental car company Hertz announced back in 2021 it was ordering 100,000 Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) by the end of 2022, though in reality it’s still far from this number.
As reported by CNBC, Hertz currently has only 50,000 EVs in its fleet, with 35,000 of them being Teslas.
Hertz Global CEO Stephen Scherr said during the company’s recent third-quarter earnings call that ‘our in-fleeting of EVs will be slower than our prior expectations’.
The article continued, noting that those third-quarter earnings were “lower than expected” in large part, due to that pledged transition:
‘Collision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that associated with a comparable combustion engine vehicle,’ said Mr Scherr.
…
‘On a unit basis, we achieved productivity gains across most categories of auto. The exception remained vehicle damage costs, particularly those on our EVs….’
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
‘The MSRP declines in EVs over the course of 2023, driven primarily by Tesla, have driven the fair market value of our EVs lower as compared to last year, such that as salvage creates a larger loss and therefore greater burden,’ said Mr Scherr.
i.e. lip service for global warming is great but only as long as it doesn’t involve significant portions of our own money as opposed to other people’s money.
One more nail in the coffin... EV's need a battery make over... or energy that moves through the air.
I think another part they aren’t saying out loud is that the demand for EV rentals probably isn’t there. Who would want to rent an EV when they are on a trip and need a reliable vehicle? Do hotels have chargers in their lots?
The Biden administration is pushing for cars that by design, are one-and-done rides when they get into an accident?
Cars that had a massively detrimental effect on the earth to mine for the minerals needed to power them?
Cars that will have another negative impact, when they take up a noticeable portion of real estate either in a dump or in an “E.V. graveyard” ? According to recent data, there are right around 20,000 car wrecks each day in the U.S.— what happens if they’re all E.V.s, like the left wishes?
You’re right. And here’s another — The U.S. is around $33 trillion in debt, and with our status as the world reserve currency, when we’re in debt, we’re stealing from the rest of the globe too. The E.V. industry is already tremendously subsidized, and the idea just isn’t good enough to make it—can we just cut our losses and be done with it?
Oops!
There goes the idea that, because of fewer mechanical parts, EVs are lower cost to repair.
FACT is that, EVs cost a lot more to own and operate over the first 10 years, than comparably equipped ICE vehicles.
What’s worse is that, with the economy’s downturn and people earning less and spending more on other necessities, EVs are out of the question for at least 95% of people who were/are in the market for new (or used) vehicles.
Ain’t Communism Wonderful.
Insurance companies must love paying these repair costs...
;-)
Who would rent an EV? Where you going to charge it?
I think Hertz has a map of EV charging stations on your route. They’ll probably inform you in advance as to where their locations are when you rent their EV.
Had a couple coming to look at a property last year
They could not get a regular rental
Ended up with a EV from some online renal company like an air B and B for cars.
could not find recharging stations.
Was overwhelmed. Ended not doing business because so sketched out by running out of juice.
Yes but there are three levels of charging and one gets stuck if wrong charger is the one you are near.
The whole point of EVs is to make personal transportation too expensive or inconvenient.
Lots of hotels have charging, ofter “free”.
EVs are OK for certain urban uses, but they’re being pushed too hard by the climate extremists using regulatory diktat.
I was renting a car in Albuquerque NM and the people in front requested the “manager special” which is the cheapest car to rent because it is whatever they have an excess of. The guy at the counter mentioned that the “special” was always an EV. I suspect this is because nobody traveling around NM trusted that they could get from point A to point B and find chargers.
Recall that the Oompa Loompa running the state just dictated that all gov vehicles be electric by 2035.
Democrat EV’s are almost as bad as their stupid money pit ‘wind farms’...
Early last summer I reserved a car in Pittsburgh intending to drive to Williamsport, pa. My choices were a dodge charger or Tesla. It’s about 200 miles each way. Not knowing how to charge a Tesla or where chargers might be I chose the charger (which had a zero to 60 gauge!). Unless I would be going a short distance where I would not have to charge the Tesla there is no way I would rent anything other than gas powered. Rather foolish to try to push me to a battery car considering the distance I would drive and the fact that the family we were visiting did not have a convenient charger in their home nor nearby.
My first thought too. Who in their right mind would rent an EV. When you are traveling you don’t want to have to worry about keeping the damn car charged
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